Old Folks Boogie

 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=nHcGkGdiEHc

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Father’s Shoes

Week One: My Father’s Shoes  And now I think of my daddy, he wore these kinds of shoes. And after all this time I think I know him. I’d like to say I love him, but the time has passed away. What are the words I can say? --Leon Russell, My Father’s Shoes , from Will ‘o the Wisp A few years ago, after we returned from living in Europe for ten months, I was determined to lose weight. Being a fat guy has its perks, but mostly it comes with being out of breath and unable to do many simple tasks easily. So I walked. And rode my bike. And listened to Internet radio. As well as it worked, the fat guy survived, and he didn’t much like what was going on, for sure. One thing that was going on was a renewed sense of clarity, and believe it or not, it was helped along by Internet radio. Every day I heard a song and a lyric that I knew and loved. And so it was on one of those walks that I decided to dust off my blog. Walking seems like a mindless endeavor. It’s not. Walking actually allows the mind
Read more

I Want My Dog to Live Longer

  Week Six: I Want My Dog to Live Longer (The Greatest Wish) I wish I was the king of rock and roll I wish I was cool and in the know and I wish I’d wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” I’d like to see my late mother again I’d like to stop poverty, save this world from hunger But the greatest wish, oh, I wish to come true I want my dog to live longer --Curtis Salgado & Alan Hager,  I Want My Dog to Live Longer (The Greatest Wish), from Rough Cut On Christmas Day 2021 while we were in Jacobus, PA to celebrate the holiday with our son’s family, I received a phone call from someone at Pet Suites in Greensboro, NC where our dog Leon was boarded. She asked me if Leon had a history of seizures. I told her that he did not.  He does now. Canine epilepsy affects less than one percent of dogs. It affects 100% of ours. Much is known about canine epilepsy. Much can be done preemptively, but there is no cure. I call it his “demon”. Apparently there are two types of seizures in dogs: generalized and foca
Read more

Oh My God

  Week Two: Oh My God Oh my God, you take the biscuit Treating me this way Expecting me to treat you well No matter what you say… Take the space between us And fill it up some way —The Police, Oh My God , from Synchronicity During a recent conversation with our next-door neighbors in the space after dinner and before filling our time playing a board game, I revealed my dislike for the inescapable, seemingly international, cultural trend that all but requires everyone to inquire regarding my well being. I’m serious. It is conspicuous how often people ask me how I am doing.  It’s not my imagination (although I am hypersensitive to it) that throughout every day, many, many people ask me how I am. Over time I have come to realize that the vast majority of these inquiries are not sincere. Pretty much no one really wants to know how I am; they are just doing what almost everyone else does—they start every exchange with a pleasantry; a starter of sorts; a courteous show of concern. The proble
Read more