Juneteenth. Realizing the significance of the day - and that it has finally received the appropriate official national recognition it deserves - I search for its meaning to me.Do we take freedom for granted?

As we all come out of Father's Day weekend, I wanted to share a thought about "family".  I have come to realize, (with much reminding by my wonderful partner Stewart) that family is not just blood relations.

We had such a nice Father’s Day weekend.  It started with a “surprise” visit from our son and his fiancé, continued with lots of family time and a super great gift from our daughter (hint – there is a Dad Joke theme in my house).  And of course, lots of good food.  It ended with an annual family gathering we have been enjoying for more years than I can count.

Our cable tv went out last Tuesday morning. We did not even notice it until 11:00 p.m. when we went to turn on the local network news.   Our cable company’s response time was, surprisingly quick. They determined that it was probably the box and sent a new one via overnight mail.  The cable, however, was still not working after we installed the new box. So, we have a technician coming on Tuesday.  

About a month ago in between a lovely Bar Mitzvah service for a friend's grandson in Dobbs Ferry and the evening reception in Hastings on the Hudson, Shelly and I visited with our son Jonathan and his lovely wife, Carrie at their apartment in the Greystone section of Yonkers, above five minutes from the reception.  Somehow the discussion turned to one of my fave topics -- followers of this weekly commentary must know that to be music.

It’s kind of wild to think about—early humans worked because they had to. If you didn’t grow it, build it, or catch it, you didn’t survive. Your labor was life. Today, most of us are far removed from the work that sustains us. Our food, clothes, and everyday essentials are made by hands we’ll never see, on farms, in factories, in different countries, and increasingly, with the help of machines and AI. The labor is still there. It’s just less visible.  

In our family 13 is a lucky number, as it is the date upon which my wife Joanne was born.  Throughout our relationship, everyone has always reinforced this reality by telling me how "lucky" I have been to be with her and, more than anyone else, I readily agree!

Rudyard Kipling, is his famous poem “If” got it right.“If” is the most consequential word in our language, and in our lives.