Photo by E.F. Joseph

How on earth does one process the totally outrageous?

Yes, this is how it feels ... .

This photo was taken in summer of 1942, and Mel and I were guests at a Ball at the International House on the UC Berkeley campus.  I'm wearing my (cotton) wedding dress, and feeling absolutely beautiful!  Dress was designed and handmade by my older sister, Marjorie. We're the couple in the middle of this trio.  We'd been married in May.


Two days ago while waiting for my ride to work, I sat at my computer to bide the time.  Clicked into Facebook, a site I don't often visit, to find a message of congratulations for something I'd not yet seen. Up popped a video announced by a gnarly wrinkled face that I recognized as my own (noticing that my wrinkles now had wrinkles of their own!), with that little "click" button which opened into a remarkable 3-minute piece on "96 year-old park ranger ... not ready for retirement."  It carried the Al Jazeera logo.

I immediately recognized the footage, but had no idea how it had gotten onto Facebook, or, into this amazing little piece.

To add to the drama, though it had only been posted for a mere 4 hours, 241,000 hits had been recorded!

This morning, as I sit here at my computer that counter is approaching 4.9 million, with 77,000 shares!

What could possibly explain this?

Can it be that the nation is so filled with despair that a tiny good news story about a lil' ole lady park ranger should hit a nerve bringing this much attention?

I cannot imagine 4.9 million of anything ... much less people ... .

Maybe this says more about the State of the Union than it does about me.

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/1098904690251037/