June 22

June 22. Happy Birthday, nephew Theo. In one year you will have been a prime half your life. It will happen again in three years, but after this the primes get more spread out. Why, I won’t be prime for 4 more years yet , and then I won’t be prime again until 4 years after that. In the next 8 years of my life, imagine what will happen. On the optimistic side: Sustainable economics? Peace in the middle east? Fungus Revolution? Grandpa Dan will likely be knocking on the door of 70. Great Granny, 90. On the other hand, what new pestilence and diseases will we face? What will climate change bring about? Which animal and plant species will be gone forever? Which genocide of your young lifetime will go down as the worst?

Back on the upside, it’s summer now, and our hemisphere is bathed in sunlight. My garden at the school—that is to say, our gardening club’s garden—includes corn and sunflowers, beans, a few whispers of life left in a bunch of strawberry starts, parsley, beets, radishes, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchinis, cantaloupes, basil, tomatoes, parsley, carrots, and dill. I’m trying to sprout some potatoes to put in there, and we have some other plants waiting for some corn and sunflower shade.

The Reader, what a great book. Thanks for the window into Germany, Judge Schlink, and into the human experience.