Day 312 - the last work day this week

Today is the 4th day of the 45th week, the 8th day of the 11th month, the 312th day of 2023, and:

• Abet and Aid Punsters Day
• Cook Something Bold Day
• International Day of Radiology
• International Pathology Day
• Intersex Day of Solidarity
• National Ample Time Day
• National Cappuccino Day
• National Dunce Day
• National Harvey Wallbanger Day
• National Parents as Teachers Day
• National STEAM Day
• Shakespeare Authorship Mystery Day
• Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven [Eastern Orthodox Church'
• World Pianist Day
• World Town Planning Day
• World Urbanism Day
• X-ray Day - in 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 29m 45s of light travel time from Earth 

Quote of the day:
"Memory ... is the diary that we all carry about with us."

~  Oscar Wilde

This is always an interestingly poignant week for me to remember.  For example, 19 years ago today, I was in the Animal Kingdom:

Frank and I had driven down - my daughter flew down later and joined us as she didn't have enough vacation time to travel with us initially.  We went to the airport and picked her up, and she rode back with us as we drove home.  

I didn't take that many pictures of Frank, or of her for that matter, since we had all been at the parks so many times together.  How could've I of guessed that this would be Frank's last trip?  There were a few pictures that I have, including the one of his last haircut [I am so glad he realized his ambition to have his hair cut there on Main Street!], but I have no idea why the very last picture of him is one of him walking away, heading for the food court and bus station at the Caribbean Beach Resort where we are staying just five days later....

My son wasn't able to get off work at all in 2004, so he wasn't able to drive down from Jacksonville and join us that year.  His last picture with Frank was taken on October 29th 2003, also in the Animal KIngdom, and he is standing in the shadows as both he and his then partner watched Frank take yet another shot of that tree from a particularly good vantage point   Neither he nor Frank were much for posing for pictures together.

I guess that is one reason I so determinedly take so many snapshots with my iPhone, and I keep encouraging my kids to do the same.  Frank?  He was always the one behind the camera taking the pictures, and sometimes would wave me off irritably if I aimed my camera at him  

One interesting thing about keeping a journal is that sometimes you end up writing about something totally different than you planned on - I had to go back and change the quote of the day to be more reflective of my musings today.  In one sense, I remember this week so clearly and yet in another, it is as remote as though it happened to someone else.   And I guess it is a good thing I didn't have an inkling that just 38 days later, my life would be irrevocably altered beyond recognition - precognition would've spoiled what my daughter and I remember as a wonderful time.