I was born in 1938. I’m in pretty good health, considering my age. But one of the valves in my heart has a leak. It must be repaired. On April 8, I am having open heart surgery. The surgeon will break open my breastbone to reach my heart, then wire it back together. He assures me I will be fine, but fatigued, when it’s over.

I have tried to take it in stride, but it’s hard not to find it scary. Terrifying, actually.

To cheer me up, I keep thinking of hokey old songs that use the word “heart” in them. There are so many of them. Dozens. Scores. Hundreds. I’ve been singing Hank Williams’ “Your Cheating Heart,” and “My heart cries for you, sighs for you, dies for you, please come back to me,” “Peg of My Heart,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “You’re Breaking My Heart Cause You’re Leaving, you’ve fallen for somebody new,” Doris Day’s “Once I had a Secret Love, that lived within the heart of me,” “ Hoagy Carmichael’s “Heart and Soul, I fell in love with you,” Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart,” Patsy Cline’s “Heartaches,” another version of a different “Heartaches,” The Charms, “Hearts Made of Stone,” Billy Eckstine’s “My Foolish Heart,” The Four Aces, “Heart of My Hearts,” Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” and many more. “Heart of My Heart” is the one I keep singing to myself; it’s a barbershop quartet song. The Elvis Presley song is adorable, Elvis like you have never seen him before.

It’s a habit in my natal family to try to turn bad news into humor.

My heart is not amused.

When the nurse-practitioner called to review procedures, she asked me what kind of animal valve I wanted in my heart. Without hesitation, I said I wanted the valve of a Longhorn steer. My heart really does belong to Texas.

One of the first people I turned to for advice about a surgeon was Checker Finn’s wife, Renu Virmani, who is a world-renowned cardiologist. She assured me that the surgeon recommended by my cardiologist was the best in New York City. The more I inquired, the better I felt about the person I chose. When I met him, he relieved my anxieties. At least some of them.

The blog will continue while I am hospitalized. I have written some in advance. Some of of my good friends agreed to write special contributions for me in my absence (most are original and never been previously published). And I expect to jump in to comment and maybe even post a few things as soon as the anesthesia wears off.

So please think of me on April 8. I will be grateful for your thoughts, prayers, and good wishes.

I’m not going away. I will be back with a stronger heart and a passion for justice. And maybe the heart valve of a lion or a tiger or a Longhorn.

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads these words.

This has been a difficult year for people all over the world.

The end is in sight, as vaccines become available to more and more people. You can help to curb the pandemic by following expert advice: Wear a mask, avoid crowds, maintain social distance, wash your hands frequently.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanzaa, or whether you don’t mark any religious season, I wish you health and happiness for you, your family, and your friends.

Here is my blogging plan until January 1.

You will not see the usual four posts (or more) a day for the next several days. I will post whenever I see something that interests me and that I think will interest you. Expect probably one or two or three posts a day as I keep seeing interesting things that I want to share with you.

Let’s see what 2021 brings. We can hope that Donald Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago (even though his neighbors say they don’t want him back), that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated on January 20, and that we have a new government in office that is not beholden to the free-market libertarians or the billionaire faux-Democrats who have been trying for years to disrupt public education and privatize everything to lower their taxes. We can hope that this horrible pandemic ends and that our government acts forcefully to help people who are struggling to survive.

Merry Christmas!

I always have this problem in early December: What shall I give to the children in my life?

This year I did something I have wanted to do for a long time. I got a gift catalog from Heifer.com and I ordered animals that will be given to a family that needs them to have a better life. I purchased a sheep ($120) on behalf of one child and a goat on behalf of another. I could have bought shares in either animal for $10. I will buy honeybees ($20) and chicks ($20) for other children in my life. The children will have the pleasure in knowing that they helped others.

If you go online, you will see many opportunities to give meaningful gifts. For $275, you can pay for a girl to attend school in India. For the more expensive animals, like alpacas or heifers or water buffalo, you can buy a share.

These are gifts that keep on giving.

Alternatively, you can support charities in the United States that are providing food and shelter for needy children and families. It is truly shameful that millions of people are hungry and homeless in this country, one of the richest in the world. The pandemic has widened inequality, by plunging millions of people into poverty while enriching billionaires.

Here is a list of ten charities that alleviate hunger in the U.S. and the world.

This is one of those days when almost everyone is on edge. Today is an incredibly important election, certainly the most important in my lifetime. I have voted in every Presidential election since 1960. This one matters most, because the future of our democracy, our environment, our public schools, our domestic tranquility, is on the ballot.

I was in New York City on 9/11/01. I lived about a mile from the World Trade Center, across the Brooklyn Bridge. I literally felt the impact when the first airplane his the first of the Twin Towers. I rushed to the waterfront and saw the second plane fly into the second tower. I was traumatized for months afterwards, maybe longer. I will never forget.

Please pause and remember the nearly 3,000 souls who lost their lives that terrible morning and the brave firefighters and police who died while bravely responding to the disaster.

This is a documentary that I have posted before about the greatest boatlift in history, the story of the spontaneous flotilla that rescued survivors.