 |
Cross Country Skiing, Snoqualmie Pass,
Dec 31, 2021 |
December
2022
Season’s
Greetings from the Pacific Northwest!
As usual
I’m always hoping for a white Christmas. And Seattle leading up to the weekend
might just deliver. Fingers crossed because this place is magical when
snowflakes fall. Cars stay parked, people cross-country ski on side streets,
there is a sense of quiet and awe. The entire world changes.
 |
RJ, Farrah & Me, my long-awaited tome
hits bookstores, June 2022 |
2022 has
been a particularly special year for me. I found a publisher for my book and
sold nearly 200 copies. I led a reading and discussion at a local art gallery
and hope to do more. I sat for a signing at the end of the summer near the
beach where I love to swim. Friends and acquaintances came to buy a copy and
offer support. And others emailed to say they had been moved to laughter and
tears, and encouraged me to keep writing, which really buoyed my spirits.
This year I
dove into adventure and travel. In January I spent a week with my
actor/director friend Shawn in Mexico City chilling in the Roma neighborhood
and beyond, exploring a place I’d visited briefly in college and enjoyed just
as much after a long hiatus. Chapultepec Castle and Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul, her
former home which doubles as an art museum, still hold magical memories for me.
 |
Odie and me at tail end of our Camino
Spain, May 2022 |
In late
April I traveled with another close friend, Odie, to Paris and then on to the
foot of the French & Spanish Pyrenees to begin our trek along the 500-mile
Camino de Santiago. On my last visit to Spain in 2015 I vowed to one day return
and trod this path. We completed our journey on May 27th despite my
contracting a mild case of COVID and Odie’s bout with “Disney Rash” (look it
up!). We spent the first week of June in Madrid marking my birthday before
heading back home. Our antique hotel overlooked El Retiro, the Central Park of
Madrid, and each day we enjoyed the passerby and the small artificial lake on
which row boats and sculls floated by. Each morning I either strolled or bicycled
through the park and fell in love with its bounty—the statuary, trees, and
landscape. |
Seattle Orca Swimmers at IGLA,
Palm Springs, April 2022
|
Earlier in
April Odie and I traveled to Palm Springs for the IGLA swim
competition, which brought
together the international LBGBTQ+ swim community of which I’ve been a part
since 1994 when I participated in the Gay Games in NYC. A dozen or so swimmers
from our Seattle Orca team joined us, and we placed third in our competition category
for teams of comparable size.
 |
Jack & Mary Anne, Lake Michigan,
Chicago, Sept 2022 |
In late
September I travelled back to the Midwest for a family
wedding on my mom’s
side. I arranged for a layover in Chicago to visit my high school friend Mary
Anne, which meant a lot to both of us. Hard to believe 15 years had passed since
we last saw each other. Gathering with my family in Indiana to celebrate the
nuptials of my cousin Josh and his bride Fayth also made my heart happy. I am
grateful I could stay with my cousins Michelle, Lori and Tim and have quiet
time with each of them, as well as others, in between all the excitement.
 |
Dare to Dance performance, Tap Dancing
into the Past, Nov 2022 |
I finished
the year with a performance in Dare to Dance: Together Again, a
community non-profit providing adults, regardless of ability,the opportunity to
rehearse with a choreographer and perform on stage with other amateur and
advanced dancers. I pulled an old pair of tap shoes out of my closet and rediscovered
the old magic that stretches back a century. I come from family of tappers on
my mom’s side. There was a special excitement in buying a new pair of tap shoes,
which I hope to use in a future class in 2023.
 |
Last Visit with Oscar Prior to
Bellingham move, July 2022 |
There were
losses too. When I came home from Spain, I decided to rehome my little terrier
Oscar with a kind couple
who fell in love with and cared for him while I was
away. I bicycled over to visit him once more in July before his new owners
moved north to Bellingham and took Oscar with them. I know he’s in a good place
and living his best life, but in these dark winter months I miss him more. I also
lost a former neighbor and good friend, Kay, who passed away after a brief
illness at the ripe old age of 94. We both enjoyed swimming and with her red
hair, ramrod posture and good humor she was an inspiration for aging well. Our
conversations on our back deck left me with a deep love for her. And then there
were friends who lost fathers, brothers, a mother, and a partner. I know this
time of year is difficult when the people you love start leaving this planet. I
held those friends in my morning meditation.
I am
hopeful for a more peaceful 2023. Peace begins with me and all of us, then
radiates outward.
 |
Season's Greetings, Garden Court Holiday Wreath,
Dec 15, 2022 |
Wishing
you a most peaceful, joyous, and laugh-out-loud holiday season and a happy,
healthy New Year.
Much love,
Jack
