So this is 60

 I returned last Saturday from 16 days in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.  I met up with my longest childhood friend and we celebrated our 60th birthdays together.  We’re one month and two days apart.  Then we met up with a friend I first met via this blog, and have visited with multiple times over the years.  We hiked.  We ate.  We laughed, and I was so happy I got to be around still to enjoy these moments.

I have been going out west every ten years for the last thirty years.  To celebrate and reaffirm life.  They have also come east for me.  

I’m very much a loner, but I am reminded when I visit with these amazing people, how important human relationships are, and how lucky I have been to have two such beautiful souls in my life all these years.

  

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I just finished reading this 10th anniversary edition of American Gods by  Neil Gaiman.  The book has actually been out for 22 years.  I enjoyed the tv show “Good Omens” by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and have been meaning to read something by either or both of them for almost five years.  I finally did and this was one weird but wonderful book.  It was very interesting, layered storylines, good characters, and just a lot to take in at over 500 pages.  

The book had layered storylines for what was going on in reality and what was going on “backstage.”  This paralleled the characters.  You had who the were introduced as and then who they really were as gods, leprechauns, dwarves, witches, etc.  You had the main storyline of the old gods vs the new gods, but also the story of the main character,, Shadow, who he was, what his back story was, and his growth as a character.  Toward the last quarter of the book there is the discovery of another of Shadow’s identities and his discovery of a serial killer.  I know my description probably sounds jumbled, but all these elements really work well together in this story.  Once I get my sci-fi book club book read for this month, I plan to seek out another Gaiman book or maybe one by Pritchett.  Recommend.