Promethean Pervasity (I know its not a real word)

Worcester Courthouse as Seen From Negotiating Window

Yesterday I was low all day.  It was not because I was in negotiations with the union all day – usually reason enough.  We even made some significant progress towards a new contract which sadly included an agreement that eliminated the position for my friend.  The negotiating session was in downtown Worcester directly across the street from a newly constructed court house.  This allowed a parade of flotsam and jetsam of some of the seamier side of Worcester society to pass by.  Its takes a significant amount of criminality to actually reach a court room here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts so you can imagine some of the life forms on display – it was an extremely shallow gene pool.  I was haunted all day with a pervasive feeling of sadness and helplessness over the loss of my cousin.  It just doesn’t make sense.  My mind kept slipping back to those feelings.  Yet another element of the brief “golden age” of my youth when my parents were still together and all the cousins on my father’s side got together for family reunions and Thanksgivings is gone.  I mostly felt frustrated at being unable to be there for my cousin’s brother and sisters, some of my favorite people in the world.  When someone passes after a long illness you have time to prepare yourself for the inevitable passing.  It gives you time to reflect on the life of the departed and the funeral can be a celebration of that life.  I’ve had some experience with unexpected death, I lost both my father and a sister as well some Army friends that way, and nothing seems to help except to force your way through the shock and honor the memory of the one is gone.  My cousin led a life to be celebrated, to be acknowledged for her life of quiet, dignified excellence.  I have no doubt that her brother and sisters will rise to the occasion next week – I just wish I could be there for them.  The funeral is next week in South Carolina and I have to be at another negotiating session where the union is bringing in a regional vice president – yet another reason to love the union.  My heart and my thoughts will be in South Carolina where my cousin will be laid to rest in the same cemetery our mutual great, great-grandfather, who died down there in the Civil War, is buried.  It’s fitting but a small consolation that something good has come out of this tragedy but yesterday one of the tech savvy younger cousins set up a Facebook group for the family to stay better connected – I think my cousin would have approved.
My wife sensed how down I was yesterday when I got home and typically she did her best to lift my spirits.  Since last night was date night we headed out to the movies to see the latest blockbuster, Prometheus.  I written earlier about how frustratingly selective my wife has become about movies.  She asked my daughter, who saw the movie over the past weekend, and after an extremely pregnant pause, my daughter reluctantly recommended the movie to my wife.  That was all was needed to stoke the flames of doubt for my wife.  We were standing in line to buy tickets and she still hadn’t made up her mind – decisiveness is not her strong suit.  Faced with alternatives of Sasha Baron Cohen and animated zoo animals she finally agreed to see Prometheus.  I’ve been psyched for this semi-prequel to the Alien movies directed by the original Alien director Ridley Scott (he of Blade Runner sci fi credentials).  I was not disappointed.  This movie was so “big” that I (jaded movie goer that I am) felt a real sense of wonder, something bereft of any of my recent movie going experiences. There were a couple of plot turns that didn’t pass the common sense test but the cast lifted the movie above this.  Noomi Rapace, the original Swedish Dragon Tattoo girl, even reached Ripley level determination.  I also liked the ending which may or may not signal a sequel.  My wife had to watch a couple scenes through her fingers but she loved the movie – the best I’ve seen this year.   The Red Sox even won a one run game.  It’s almost like the cosmos is trying to raise my spirits.