August 1, 2024
It’s been a season of strange weather in Atlanta. Thankfully, we’ve been spared any life-threatening climate convulsions, but the normal phases of summer have got themselves all jumbled up.
The heat that usually holds off until August descended in June. Next came a July of sudden, soaking downpours, the kind my mother referred to as “gully-washers” and some of us call “toad-stranglers.” The last of these coated the yard and the pool with pine needles, red crepe myrtle blossoms, and these early prophets of fall.
Along with the leaves, a return to sweaters, and an end to lounging under the sun, this autumn will bring a “round birthday” with a zero at the end. Over the decades I’ve developed a way of coping with these milestones/millstones: a few months in advance, I start thinking of myself as though I’ve already hit my new number.
By the time the actual day rolls around, I’m used to not being _9 any more. This time, however, I keep looking ahead to the next round birthday and the one after…well, unless I beat some pretty big odds, there won’t be one after that.
My cosmic calendar keeps filling up with unwanted reminders of my age. I drive from seeing a doctor for one symptom of advanced geezeritis to the drugstore to get pills for another. People who weren’t alive when I first laid hands on a computer think I’m helpless with my phone. The musicians I’ve listened to for years keep leaving the stage.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned – and some days I feel like I know precisely zilch – it’s that time is relentless. It charges ahead like a John Deere dozer with the driver passed out in the cab, and you can either grab the controls or end up flatter than a flounder. My resolutions for my personal new year’s day are to embrace change in my life and not waste a second of what I have left, especially by watching those inane movies about seniors gone wild.
I can still write my own script, thank you. The keywords include love, humor, resilience, a work ethic, respect for others, beaches and of course music. I’ll leave y’all with one of my heroes, John Mayall, paying tribute to one of his, the late blues harp player Sonny Boy Williamson. (If it says “unavailable,” just click the YouTube link). Dig it. Take care. Be safe. I’ll see you in ten years if not before.
5 thoughts on “Living a well-rounded life”