April Fool

We had an offer today for a million dollars in cash for our house. The buyer cannot wait to sit down, and plunk his money on the barrel head. I cannot believe it, after all these months of anxiety. Our first and last offer! Accepted! It's a deal! Hurrah! The closing will be in ten days. We will go on a trip somewhere delightful. I have thee not, and yet, I see thee still!

And on another front, I received a call from X.Y. & Zed this morning. They have an office, a desk, a computer, a salary and full benefit package reserved for me. I will work with my friend, the owner, alongside his wife. I am to set up a family foundation that will give away a tenth of their corporate profits per annum, beginning with $25 million in seed money. Their interests lie in the arts, in education, in Buddhism, in several private educational institutions, in mental health, and in yachting, land trust, conservation and the sea. It doesn't get any better than this! I am to work with the family to help set up and distribute short and longterm gifts. They rely upon my reputation for being fair and equitable, as well as judicious and imaginative.

My wife and daughter will join me this weekend to help find a new residence on College Hill and locate a studio-loft nearby. We will keep a small, Alerion class sloop moored at the dock near the office for sailing after work in Naragansett Bay, and for an occasional longer sail over southern New England waters, between the Cape, Martha's Vineyard and Long Island Sound. . .

"I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade. . ." And "Richard Cory glittered. . ." so it is said, "when he walked." "Out on the main line. I heard that he died. Even Neil Young is having a bad day, lying in a burned out basement, thinking something about. . . what? April's Fools. They n'er saw Elba, nor the summer's bloom, their widows "used to sleep until the afternoon."