Good Morning,
Friday was my 64th birthday. I suppose being perpendicular at “64” is reason enough to celebrate when I consider the number of my friends and relatives who are now forever horizontal or ashes in a jar. “64” wasn’t really a significant number like “60” or “65” for it is one of those in-between numbers that kind-of-says you are not quite there yet or you’ve already been there, so get over it. Still, each year seems to be a little more “interesting” than the last, seemingly meticulously woven by some higher power into a tapestry of unique challenges of the fiscal and material, physical and mental, social and austere, all the time keeping me wondering what the next year will possibly bring. I can tell you with a great degree of confidence that this year is not one I would have wanted to have experienced, say when I was “34” or “44” or even “54”, as I am sure I would not have been prepared for it without the experience of the previous ones. Nope, not even a little bit.
I’m not saying that this time between “63” and “64” has been bad or good, but I would prefer to rather refer to it as just “interesting”. I don’t think there was much about it I could have single-handedly changed. The economy in the dumpster has affected just about every aspect of my life as it has for most of us. From what, or if, I take home for pay each week from the business, to how we shop or even to what we eat. It becomes a constant juggling act of who gets what or if at all. I am now beginning to understand a bit more about what shaped the manners of my parents when it came to financial issues and why my grandfather never trusted banks or stocks after loosing most of his money when they crashed, for they were there in the 30s and the affect was profound enough to follow them to the grave. I am beginning to understand maybe even more than I wanted to know and along with it has come the loss of innocence and trust in such institutions.
Add to that a few too many health issues for my liking from head to toe, some which come with this age, some from genetic propensity, while the others can be considered normal maintenance with the repair, replacement or removal of various bits and pieces like bumps, lumps and teeth, but all made more significant without the benefit of health insurance. I can tell you that being in the hospital is scary enough, but being in the hospital without health insurance, well that is a whole new level of scary, for it affects every aspect of getting better and the aftermath. Recovery becomes much more than just getting physically better as it extends to the fiscal as well, which goes well beyond feeling better.
Having a life partner in all of this helps and after all these years there isn’t much that together we cannot get through. Of course there is that aspect as well, since like myself, my mate also has interesting times as well. Personal challenges, mental, physical and medically all requiring attention coupled with changes in lifestyle. These all get stirred into the pot to make a soup of this life like no other.
Where am I going with all of this? It could be a bit depressing if you choose to look at it that way. I think it needs a different spin for “it is what it is” and if I cannot change it, then what is left is how I accept and respond to times like these, which have a lot to do with the outcome.
I guess the first thing one has to do is say what is the worst that can happen?
- Well the business could close. If it did, we would most likely start another with a different approach to the market and certainly different procedures when it came to the fiscal. I have “God Given” talents I haven’t even tapped yet, so I may have to fire some of those up.
- We could lose our house. Well a house does not make a home and as long as we have each other it doesn’t really matter where we live. Maybe a simpler life is what we need right now anyway. Who knows, maybe one with wheels.
- We could lose our health. That is a bit tougher and probably the most important to hang on to, for without it not much else matters.
I was reminded on Friday that I am lucky in so many ways and none of them tangible.
- I have a wife of 33 years who loves me more than anything else, including our dog.
- I have three children who love and respect me as a father and also as a friend.
- I have a better than most relationship with each of their spouses which I consider very special.
- I have three sisters who I love and who’s relationship I hold very dear.
- I have three grandchildren who while they are busy being who they are, still show me love in their way.
- I also have children (grown now) that have chosen to adopt me as “Dad” or “Pop” which I am honored every day to have that kind of love.
- I have friends who share my life because they want to and not because I have lots of money or shower them with gifts, but just because we enjoy each other’s company.
- I have family outside of the immediate that I can share my roots with and know where from which I came.
- I have a great opportunity to lose some weight.
All of this, money cannot buy. It has to be given freely and is not dependent on where you live or how much you make. It is not connected to the material.
That is a wonderful thing. I consider myself very lucky in an otherwise unlucky economy.
Love, Dad