Monday June 19th
Juneteenth
Every time I stepped outside yesterday I had this strange disorienting feeling that I had fallen asleep and slept through the month of July and skipped right into August. That was what the day felt like, a normal hot humid August day. If this is a sample of the next 2 months I really feel the need to hunker down and hibernate… And from every indication, today is just a repeat of yesterday.
And stepping out on the back porch and looking east, the sky just looks hot and washed out with all of the color gone… And I’m really, really tired of the dew point being 78… Just saying.
And today is also Juneteenth. A holiday not to celebrate so much as to remember. My own family history with slavery is problematic to my sense of self. My great great grandfather, while he lived in Georgia and the 1840s and 1850s, on the slaves. The records don’t indicate that when he came to Texas he brought them with him.. but who knows. He only lived a short time in Texas before he passed. But, his ownership of other people has always left a queasiness in my stomach since I found out about it.
Plus, living just a few short miles from Galveston where the proclamation was announced on this day in 1865, has always given me a bit of an ownership association with Juneteenth. Though in reality, quite a bit that happened here in the days after that we’re not very pretty…
Here’s a video of last month’s sunrises. For some reason, I hadn’t thought about putting this one together until yesterday… And to think last month was unseasonably cool. What a difference a month can make.
Well the clock is coming up on 8:00 a.m. and I haven’t done much of anything yet this morning.. my son, my daughter, and at least three of my grandchildren are headed for the beach today.
So y’all have a great day and I’ll catch you all on the other side.
