My 67th Birthday
I will celebrate my 67th birthday (1/30/1941) and it is so very hard for me to grasp the fact that I am that old. As a young man, I never thought of myself as ever being a senior citizen, a nice way of saying “old personâ€, as if it were an affliction. I’m still in fairly good shape, I can run the 5 mile Noland Trail in 59 minutes, I can still lift, pull and squeeze whatever needs those things. My brain still seems to be fairly well intact, with the occasional forgetfulness, and I still remember names, faces and lots of unnecessary facts. As an “Old Guyâ€, I find that I most enjoy communicating with my friends (you), traveling and puttering around the yard. My Audio Books are still a source of entertainment (approaching 300 books so far) and visits with family & friends always make me happy. I read once that life is a lot of unhappiness with some happiness sprinkled in. I prefer to think the opposite is true. Ahhh, the power of positive thinking.
My PC has been sorta cantankerous lately. One morning I woke up and found that I had lost my internet connection due to a corrupted file. An examination of the files involved solved that problem, then I discover that one of my CD drives was missing. A system restore solved that problem. It’s a good thing I approach my PC as if playing a chess game with every problem a chess move by my opponent, requiring an appropriate move by me. Of course this game ceases when I no longer find it fun.
Jerilyn and I have been attending her grandson’s (Brandon) rec basketball games. He is a short lad, but loves the game. He has become quite good and his team is so much better when he plays (everybody has to share the bench except the coach’s son). Although he is not my grandson, I enjoy watching him play and being around him. Regrettably, I see very little of my grandchildren. Robin lives in Trenton, TN, Christine lives in Knoxville, TN and my youngest, Chelsea, lives in Dyer, TN. It is so hard to stay close when you live so far apart.
I am still involved with the effort of converting all our VHS home movies to a digital format and putting them on a DVD. The tapes go back to 1985 and include Mom & Dad and a lot of family members. I plan on giving each family on the tape a copy. I am trying to figure out a way to include only the family of the person who receives the tape. That solution still eludes me. As most of you know, I enjoy taking photos. I have a website now that lets me store all my pics and make them accessible to my friends. This is the site: http://bipolar66.smugmug.com/ . I hope you enjoy viewing them. My username is bipolar66. I say this so you won’t think it’s an evil site. I plan on posting all my photos there so whenever we take a trip you will be able to enjoy our trip with us.
The Canadian geese have returned. Practically every day, they land in our back yard and commence pooping all over the place. This necessitates a visit by me and my trusty sling shot, loaded with marbles from Wal-Mart. Geese are really smart. The moment they see me they perk up and stand at the ready to fly away. Sometimes I hit one and other times I miss. I miss a lot, but it always scares them away. Even when I hit one, it does little damage, other than to make them depart at a faster pace. I would be sad if I hurt one really bad, but they need to know that I will not tolerate their presence in our yard. They are such a nuisance.
It looks like I will be replacing some grout in our shower before long. I have never done that before, but my plan is to use Google to find out the best way to do it. Normally, I’m not very good at doing things like that, but I am willing to give it a try. If I make a mess of things I can always call in the pro’s and let them fix it.
Our trip to CA in February is probably not going to happen. Jerilyn’s mother (Gladys) has moved back to her apartment from Health Care and is in need of our local presence. We are currently attempting to reschedule it for May. We attended a meeting last week on our July trip to Hawaii. Due to Gladys’ health we bought insurance to cover that trip. Normally, I am against insuring things that rarely happen, but the probability of having to cancel this trip is great. I don’t begrudge having to do things for Gladys. I’m guessing if I get to the ripe age of 89, I too, will net help of some kind. The hope is that my children will have the same attitude as I do.
Wayne Gretsky’s explanation for his success as a hockey player, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been†is one of my favorite quotes. Wouldn’t our lives be much better if we looked at where we are going instead of where we have been.
Jerilyn and I attended a country music concert with our friends Don & Louise Saturday night. The show started at 4:00pm and lasted until 10:15pm with 3 breaks between acts. The biggest star was Chris Cagle, with performances by less known stars like, Whiskey Falls, Ashton Shepherd, Laura Bryna and Emily West. We enjoyed each artist and were very pleased that it only cost $10 for each of us to attend. We were also pleasantly surprised there were no parking fees.
If you have trouble with this e-mail you can view it on my blog: http://tommyhale.blogspot.com/
I hope you’re enjoying whatever season it is in your part of the world. Thanks for reading my weekly missive.
Tommy
Never Regret Growing Old…It Is A Privilege Denied To Many
