I more or less survived the holidays down here in Arizona, with a motley crew of orphaned friends. There were some pity parties of loneliness and regret over not having stayed in Oregon with my family. But I managed to find fellowship with a few good people who were family-less and we made it work. I ushered in the week between Christmas and New Year’s with a solo desert camping trip and climbed Brown Mountain (just west of Tucson). There was a Polish Christmas Eve party with my Contemplative Prayer group followed by a candlelight Unitarian service. Christmas Day included the new Avitar movie and Chinese food with Kathleen. New Year’s Day was spent hiking with John and his friends.

And finally, having found a volunteer niche among migrant asylum seeking families, we celebrated Día de Los Reyes (3 Kings Day) at a local Catholic Church. This is a day typically celebrated by many Latin Americans during which children receive gifts. At this precarious time in America with so much fear and uncertainty, it was good to see smiling children. We are reminded that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were also refugees who wandered in the desert trying to find safety. I’m still trying to do some good work, providing water in the desert, delivering food to hungry families, and attending to folks with medical needs.

But as I get lost in my own hubris, sometimes I stumble against the most humiliating obstacles. Like the uneven sidewalks and miserable streets of Tucson. Oh how this Mighty Mouse tripped and fell, splat right on my beak! Lying there on my face, alone and a bloody mess, I had no option but to pick myself up, ask a stranger for help, clean up and drive home. My friend John insisted on taking me to the local ER, where I was diagnosed with a sprained shoulder and a broken nose. So it is that I begin 2026 with my swollen raccoon face and a bit of humble levity.