Happy Half-Birthday To Me
MY MOTHER-IN-LAW JUST HAD HER 96th BIRTHDAY a couple of weeks ago. 96! Me? I’m just happy I made it through the weekend. I’m a “One Day at a Time” kind of guy. When I was a little kid, fresh out of the oven, there was speculation that I wouldn’t survive to adulthood. There are days when I still think they might be right.
According to the calendar I am 70 ½ as of tomorrow. How that happened I don’t know. In my head I’m still a kid – a chubby, gray haired, achy, grumpy kid. My wife, the lovely and eternally youthful, Dawn, has me pegged at about 11 years of age on most days. I think she’s being rather generous on all that.
I try to write every day. It is a good discipline. Of course, I don’t always reach that goal. I’d say that I get something down on paper about 8 out of 10 days. When I finish writing on any particular day I reread what I’ve done and, more often than not, I shake my head and wonder who was it that let some illiterate teenager use my notebook? It must have been me when I nodded off.
Rewriting takes a lot of my time. At the rate I’m going I estimate that one of the half-dozen novels that I have started should be completed sometime about my 96th birthday.
A guy’s gotta have a goal to shoot for.
You never know – I might just make it to my 96th birthday. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t discuss politics with anyone. Right there I figure I’ve given myself an extra week or two.
I’ve had more than my share of close calls when, by all rights, I should have bought the farm. Somehow, I survived.
People have said that God must be saving me for something bigger. Well, I’m 70 ½ and I don’t mean to be a nag, but Lord, if You really have something special in mind for me, I’d appreciate it if You could get around to clueing me in on it while I can still walk and feed myself. Now – I know that everything moves on Your time clock and not mine, but – come on now. If You wait much longer somebody is going to have to wheel me around like a dessert cart.
There used to be an old cliché about life in the fast lane – “Live fast, die young, and have a good looking corpse.” Well, I’ve slowed down, I’m already old, and there never was much of a chance of me leaving behind a good looking corpse.
Life goes on, that’s for sure, when you’re not looking or even paying attention. That is why when I hear someone talk about something that happened in 1983 it seems like just yesterday to me. I’m shocked when I’m reminded that 1983 was 34 years ago. Imagine how my 96 year old Mother-in-law must feel about events in her memory. After all, she was married before the start of World War Two.
So, as Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day.”
I plan on being around for tomorrow, and as many days after that as I can squeeze out of the Calendar. I’ll get up, go for coffee and try to write about 500 – 700 words minimum. Hopefully, they’ll make sense to someone other than just me.
Happy New Year.
Down the Hall on Your Left 
I’m older than you, John! I try not to think about age, at least not in the context of age. I think about how I feel, regardless of what the doctors tell me about my health. Three docs though, over one years time some years ago, told me that my body is 10 years younger than my age – – in their professional opinion. Some days I think those 10 years suddenly decided to catch-up! But, the majority of time I think about what they told me and I don’t feel those years creeping up.
You mention, on occasion, your age, health, and luck. I’ll bet you’re correct in your thinking, ‘God has a plan, He just hasn’t told me what it is yet’. Same for me. Hope He comes up with something pretty quick.
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Over the years I’ve had doctors tell me that they didn’t think I’d get to be as old as I am now. Guess I fooled them.
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And I for one reap the benefit each and every 5-day-weekly! Great stuff, keep it up. Never know, this may be your key to everlasting life. Well, at least to 96. 🙂
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amen, brother: re-writing IS writing.
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You are a grand writer. Keep writing!
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