<center>![shoe tree.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTVgUULTV5syUHLazfc92ToDcdHoybgfmA7inoGNKUVRn/shoe%20tree.JPG)</center>

Today is Christmas day.  I know this because Alicia, a wanderer came through our camp a couple of months ago.  We had long since forgotten the calendar, but Alicia had been keeping track of the days all the while.  So amusing!

My oldest great granddaughter, Jade found a journal and this pencil a few weeks ago during one of the family's forays into the ruins. The Journal is a very nice one, the sheets smooth and lined and leather bound.  So thoughtful of her.  She also procured other writing paper. She really wants to learn how to write.  I'm not sure that is necessary any longer, but she's still young and it will be a good way for her to develop small motor skills and is something I can still contribute.  It might be fun to have an historian in the family.

Christmas day, 2050! I can't believe that I've lived this long.  It was one thing to survive the plague and quite another bit of luck to lose only two grandchildren and one daughter-in-law.  That was 20 years ago.  Overall, my family is healthy and strong.  Without them I'm sure I would have died in the riots with the rest of them.

After the worst of the plague had abated we moved down from our bugout spot and back toward the coast where there were more resources and the weather was kinder.  Still, the ongoing drought and the pollution caused by decaying infrastructure kept us moving north along the coast toward more pristine lands. 

It took about five years for everything to settle down, to get used to the horror of my grandchildren laughing as they kicked skulls down the road. But time does indeed heal all wounds and the renewed peace and quiet as Nature reclaimed her realm balms the tattered soul. 

Fortunately, most of the survivors we encountered were peaceful since much useful detritus of civilization remained. Few were in need of anything and so there was no need to fight with each other. We always shared what we had with the few we met.

My family was also fortunate in that we had abandoned city ways 30 years before the collapse and plague and so were skillfully prepared to live off the land.  Surprisingly, it was even easier than we had envisioned.  As long as we stayed together and shared in the responsibilities of survival life was easier than it had been before the apparent "Judgement Day" or whatever you might call it; it certainly was of Biblical proportions!

We are now settled along the Pacific coast on what used to be the old Hearst Ranch.  The land was never degraded with development and it also had zoo, of sorts, so there is lots of wild game. The ocean is clean, the climate is mild and living off the land here is much easier than it had been further south, though the forays into the ruins now take days instead of hours.  A disgusting reminder of the past, we burned down the castle after salvaging anything of use.

My boy Ashley is off hunting (of course!) and Skylar and the kids are doing a controlled burn since the day is calm and the humidity high.  Once (if) the rains come, the grass will grow lush and the wildlife will fatten up nicely.

For the first half of my life, my life before the plague, I simply wanted to die.  I wasn't happy with the world. It was too fast, too competitive, too crowded and to complicated.  Now, though my joints ache, my hearing gone and my eyes weak, as I near the end of my life, I feel optimistic and find myself wishing I were young again.  Life is cruel. Still, it does my heart good to see my family, my tribe flourishing and Nature recovering from the onslaught of civilized humanity. Hope has returned to me.  I know I'll continue on through them.

My hands are aching from this and it's time to stop. Thankfully, the poppy crop was good last season. We have lots of opium put by for trade or for the occasional mishap.  A half gram should ease my pains nicely until suppertime. 

Merry Christmas.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Photo is all mine.