Once, Quint was sleepless. So I held him in my lap, and we watched TV together until the sign-off message came. The national anthem played, the Iwo Jima flag raising statue was shown, and Quint drifted off to sleep not long after. I did the same thing with Cathy a few times. The Star-Spangled Banner seemed to comfort them both. Alexandra spoke with me one time after one of these incidents.
"When we talk, I'm usually the one asking the questions. What questions do you have for me?"
"When we first met, you were dressed as a hippie. Are you?"
"No, in fact, my father served in the Army in WW2, just like yours. I was raised in a conservative, patriotic home. That's why my parents sent me to Catholic school. I told you that the first night we spent together."
"Oh right, I forgot. Sorry. My life has been a long, strange journey and I forget important details sometimes."
"Clearly. Keep talking."
"What do you believe about politics and religion?"
"I'm skeptical of organized religion in general and anything else that seeks to demean women. For similar reasons, in politics, I favor the liberal side."
"What's so great about them? The first state to give women the right to vote was Wyoming. It was also the first place in the world to give women the right to vote. That place is hardly a liberal Mecca. Cowboys can be surprisingly progressive."
"I did not know any of that. Tell me more."
"Wyoming is the center of my spiritual universe. I love that place. Great scenery, friendly people, and plenty of space if you just want to be left alone. I passed through there a few times."
"Do you like living in a city like DC?"
"It's OK. There are advantages to living here. I prefer to be wild and free. I got used to that in the jungle."
"It seems like you miss the jungle, as you call it."
"Yeah. It was the time of my life where I felt like I was doing something important, something special."
"You're doing important things now; by being my husband and a father to our children."
"I tell myself that life is a special operation. It helps me carry on."
"Keep carrying on. Don't give up, soldier. Ever thought about going on a new adventure? It could be good for you."
"Maybe years from now, when our kids don't need me to take care of them. I'd like to build a boat and sail around the world. Or maybe walk to Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America from here."
"Running with the bulls in Pamplona would be safer, cheaper, and take less time."
"Good point. That's also the reason I have no desire to climb Mt Everest."
"You could go on a river cruise through Europe. We only visited three cities there on our honeymoon."
"Yeah. I've always wanted to see the sunrise in Istanbul. A trip like that wouldn't take long. It would also be safe and cheap. The Oriental Express is another option for that. I like trains. Get on at Paris, pass through a dozen countries or so, and get off in Istanbul."
"That's a great idea. Plan out that trip. I can come with you when the time is right. I'd like to see more of the world."
"In the meantime, I'll focus on my writing. It's a cheap hobby. I'm reminded of the guy who wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy. Writing was therapy for him, so he wrote his own encyclopedia filled with whatever he thought was interesting."
"I think whatever book you end up writing will sell well."
So that was the genesis of the idea. The entelechy of it unfolded gradually. The word was coined by Aristotle. Entelechy is garbled Greek for actuality. It's a good look I continued to study Greek long after my interest in dinosaurs waned. There was always something interesting to be discovered. The words lactose and galaxy both come from the Greek word for milk. Saying the Milky Way Galaxy is like saying the Milky Way Milky. Though my single favorite bit of Greek trivia is that the words potion, poison, potable, and symposium all come from the Greek word that means drink. Symposium literally means "drinking-together-place". Having been invited to speak at a few conferences, I can assure that the booze flows freely during happy hour.
The Anatomy of Melancholy merits a digression. It's a remarkable book that touches on many subjects, and so is basically a miniature encyclopedia. The author, Robert Burton, defines melancholy as:
***
Melancholy, the subject of our present discourse, is either in disposition or in habit. In disposition, is that transitory Melancholy which goes and comes upon every small occasion of sorrow, need, sickness, trouble, fear, grief, passion, or perturbation of the mind, any manner of care, discontent, or thought, which causes anguish, dulness, heaviness and vexation of spirit, any ways opposite to pleasure, mirth, joy, delight, causing forwardness in us, or a dislike. In which equivocal and improper sense, we call him melancholy, that is dull, sad, sour, lumpish, ill-disposed, solitary, any way moved, or displeased. And from these melancholy dispositions no man living is free, no Stoic, none so wise, none so happy, none so patient, so generous, so godly, so divine, that can vindicate himself; so well-composed, but more or less, some time or other, he feels the smart of it. Melancholy in this sense is the character of Mortality... This Melancholy of which we are to treat, is a habit, a serious ailment, a settled humour, as Aurelianus and others call it, not errant, but fixed: and as it was long increasing, so, now being (pleasant or painful) grown to a habit, it will hardly be removed.
***
He also wrote "I write of Melancholy by being busy to avoid Melancholy." That's something I can relate to.
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