We just came back from a birthday dinner for my Stepmother. She is 94 today.

We had barbecue from TD’s, a classic hole-in-the-wall take away BBQ joint that are a tradition in the American South. The great unifying elements of Southern Culture are evangelical Protestantism, mainly Baptist, American football, and food (BBQ). Most Southerners, black or white, intersect on at least two of these common interests.

Food was good. Barbeque and greens, turnip greens, I think. Then we had Angel Food cake. Nice food. My brother-in-law coaches softball, so we chatted about softball and cricket. Both sports and baseball, too, get the power from the batting swing from the batter’s, or batsman’s core muscles, not just the shoulders.

I went to the Y for the first time in a month. The pool had major maintenance and repairs done over the past month. Good to be back. I really missed my swimming. I could have gone to another Y and swum, but didn’t. I got a 1 mile plus swim in.

So I’m feeling better. The world looks better. We have problems we can fix.

So there.