This is Where I’ve Been

  Week Thirty-six: Good Lovin’ I was feeling so bad I asked my family doctor just what I had I said Doctor Mr. M.D. Now can you tell me what’s ailing me? He said yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah —The Young Rascals, Good Lovin’, from the album Young Rascals On Sunday July 15, 1984, just eleven days after my fortieth birthday, I had a heart attack. I didn’t exactly know it was a heart attack. My decisions in the initial, critical period of time would indicate so. I’ll explain. I started to make pancakes, but the indigestion that I had experienced for the past seven days made eating seem like a revolting idea. I tried anyway. Taking a break and sitting alone in the living room, I heard our 10 year old daughter tell her mother that “Dad is overreacting.” Ordinarily that would have been more than likely the case, but in this instance I was just trying not to spit up. Deb suggested we go to the emergency room, which in hindsight would have eliminated most of the really bad choices I made in ...

  Week Thirty-five: Old Folks Boogie Try and get a rise from an atrophied muscle, And the nerves in your thigh just quivers and fizzles So you know that you’re over the hill When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill. — Little Feat, Old Folks Boogie, from Time Loves a Hero Aging is like a senior slow-pitch softball league: Knowing the rules and playing the game are very different things You remember how to play, and you still want to play, but the schedule of games is not published You aren’t as good as you once were You might not be in the starting line-up  “Riding the bench” means at least you get to sit down Cramping up is expected You seldom score Your favorite player isn’t always ready to play Reaching first base can seem like a home run back in the day You used to play various positions, but not so much any more You no longer practice just in case it wears you out for the actual game You can no longer turn the double play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHc...

  Week Thirty-four: Lay Lady Lay Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man a while Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile. His clothes are dirty, but his hands are clean, And you’re the best thing he’s ever seen. —Bob Dylan, Lay Lady Lay, from Nashville Skyline Much to the embarrassment for my wife of 51 years, whenever the opportunity arises I am prone to asking a total stranger to guess the number of years we’ve been married. Now mind you, I am not inclined to approach people on the street to ask them to guess, but in certain well-timed circumstances it seems cool...to me; not Deb so much. I suppose that if I were to be somewhere in a leather-rich office, lying prone, and staring skyward revealing the far reaches of my cluttered mind I could figure out why I do that. Perhaps I am mining for compliments; you know…”Wow, 51 years! You don’t look old enough to be married 51 years!” or “That’s awesome! It takes a special couple to make 51!” I’m pretty sure I don’t need an ov...

  Week Thirty-Three: Instant Karma Instant karma’s gonna get you gonna look you right in the face Better get yourself together darlin’ Join the human race Who in the hell d’you think you are? A superstar? Well, right you are. We all shine on Like the moon and the stars and the sun —John Lennon, Imagine, from the album Imagine Just ten days after John Lennon wrote Instant Karma it was available in stores! Urban legend has Lennon saying something like, “I wrote it in the morning, recorded it in the afternoon, and sold the records in the evening.” In any case, there has never been another example of a song being produced so quickly. Most people my age are at least familiar with the song, even if we never bothered to learn the backstory. As Lennon predicted, “Instant karma’s gonna get you!” Karma is the notion that something deserving but unexpected happens when a person’s actions backfire. As my dear, departed mother used to say, “You’ll get your just desserts.” I think Lennon was sho...