Happy Fifth Birthday

“Happy fifth birthday, Julie.”

“On our second birthday, in May of 2009, you sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me in Italian.  Last year, only four months after Ms. Curmudgeon’s passing, you were somewhat upbeat.  Today you sound almost morose.  What’s up, Curmudge?”

“The loss of our sponsors last winter, as we explained on March 1, was pretty traumatic.  However, I should be grateful that the Old Man who writes our scripts can still do it in his spare time.”

“I’m puzzled, Curmudge.  How does a retired person like the Old Man define ‘spare time’?”

“It’s time spent doing what you want to do.”

“So when a working person has spare time, he does what he wants to do.  But retired people can reverse the expression.  When they are doing what they want to do, they call it spare time.”

“You’ve got it, Julie, as usual.”

“I really appreciate your clarifying what is meant by spare time, Curmudge.  But are you certain that you didn’t just make all that up?”

“It’s really a matter of the Old Man’s finding any time—no matter how you define it—to write stuff for us.  I know that he has plenty of material.” 

“You’re right.  There are bulging files at work and a stack of unread books here at home.  As he says, ‘There’s so much to learn and so much to teach.’  Nevertheless, I’m worried that his literary flame has sputtered occasionally and might be extinguished.”

“It won’t be self-snuffed, Julie. He remains an inveterate teacher and intends to ‘keep on a-keepin’ on’.”

“Is that a foreign language, Curmudge?”

“Not foreign, just regional from Southwestern Virginia.  It can be translated as ‘hang in  there.'“

“I have one final question.  The Old Man himself has said that everyone needs an editor.  Who is doing that?”

“You’ve already met Doc Mack.  There is also Liz, who once earned her living by writing.  And finally there is Al, who knows the bad side as well as the good side of the business world.  They are a diverse, yet incomparable, team.”

“I’m relieved, Curmudge.  I didn’t want the Old Man to be flying solo.  Happy fifth birthday.”

“Keep on a-keepin' on, Julie.”

Kaizen Curmudgeon