Getting Old Again . . . Still

Hey, did I tell you . . . I am getting old(er). Yeah, seems like every day I get/feel a little bit older. Part of it is this back sciatic nerve thingie. Yeah, I thought maybe it was going away, cuz it seemed to ease for a couple of days. But then it came back again   . . . maybe not with the same fierceness, but a lingering pain nonetheless.  But even beyond that daily pain, there is a lingering thing about being old. Somehow I just feel differently about my life, each day. And yes, there is this thing about reading the paper or listening to a radio report about some dude or dudette who just passed on. And they often say, conclusively, He/she was 85, as though that is the explanation. And I’m sitting there thinking, “Hell, he was younger than me”.

And then I find myself thinking about an old friend, maybe someone I knew in India. Yeah, of the 8 people who served there with me during the mid-60’s, four are still alive, one has passed on and two are just lost—I have no idea about them.  And that was nearly 60 years ago. So, yeah, I think about them often.  Part of this lingering thought pattern is that I no longer work for a living. So, I don’t have this preoccupation with a job. Now, I awaken, and my next job, after showering is to turn on the computers, and then go make a nice cappuccino for me and my bride.  And then, hey, it’s almost noon, time for an espresso and a small piece of chocolate.

And then, hey it’s time to Wine On and Dine On.

And so life goes on. Now Carol still makes quilts for little sick kids at the Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital. She and her crew of women, still create quilted, knitted and crocheted blankets for the kids. The hospital loves them, because they make sick kids feel a little bit better.  And so Carol goes on.  Oh, and she is also responsible for keeping me alive by creating wondrous meals every day. Amazing really. Almost 68 years together and she continues to amaze me with her cooking creativity.

While me? Well, I occasionally do what I’m doing here, and write some drivel just to demonstrate that I haven’t yet croaked.  Now, until a little while ago, I also used to pretend I was an artist. Yeah, I created something called Digital Art. What’s that you say? Well, I have this camera thingie and I use it to take pictures. Then I fool with the resulting images until I have something that folks might call “ART”. And what is “ART” you might ask? Well, “ART” is what I call a picture, after I get finished fooling around with it.  See, here’s a picture I converted into “ART”, after I snapped it inside my camera, and then played with it.

So, “ART” literally is in the eye of the creator, not to mention the Beholder.  But, in any case, I don’t do such things any longer. No, our local Arts Council used to sponsor these things they called Art Walks. They would find a nice empty indoor space right downtown (mostly an empty Bank office space) and make that space available for local artists. We would pay them $25 and gain access to a space and a modest table on which to display our art. But then the empty office spaces were lost to new ventures and so the Arts Council was reduced to offering a space outside on the street. And so I at least decided that Art Walk days were now over, and so my artsy phase ceased.

So, now my days are reduced to wondering who is still alive in my little world.  Now I still take pictures of naturey things, and “publish” them on Facebook, but art it ain’t.  See, in part, Art is a creation of a somebody that might be sold to another somebody. The exchange of money makes the object “ART” officially.

And so my aging life continues day by day. And each day, I am aware that my life continues through sheer luck. Each day is a new gift to me , I guess from my mom, no longer with us. She passed on these genes that comprise my body. So, thanks Mom. As usual, you did good.

Continue you LIFE thingie. Each day might be boring for some, but it opens the possibility of something new and vastly more interesting.  You never know, do you? Age on Richard, Age on. 100 is out there somewhere. So go get it.