If you really think about it, would you?

Do you know one of those people, advancing in age, who sits around and says, “If I could do it all over again, I would do this thing differently or that thing differently, or I wouldn’t do that thing at all and instead, I would do those things that I didn’t but wish I had?”

Maybe you are that person. Those of us who realize we have less of our life ahead than behind are prone to those types of thoughts. I suppose it’s natural. But it’s a waste of time.

You…

It sure felt good!

Last Tuesday, I ran my first race in 18 months. It was the Tennessee Senior Games 5K road race. I followed it on Thursday with the Game’s 10K road race. These races served as the Senior Games state championships and as qualifiers for the National Senior Games to be held in May of 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

If you aren’t familiar with the National Senior Games, think Olympics for people over the age of 50. The Games have competition in over 20 sports and most have stiff qualifying standards. I have been intrigued by the…

And I don’t intend to either.

I tried to read War and Peace. Twice actually. But I just couldn’t get through it. It is so long that I got bogged down and simply couldn’t maintain interest. It isn’t because I don’t like long books. I’ve read Shogun and Noble House by James Clavell more than once. I’ve read Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove and From Here to Eternity by James Jones. All of those are over a thousand pages and I had no problem reading and enjoying them.

But there is something about War and Peace that just doesn’t work for…

Is it happy hour yet?

It started in the summer of 1974 right around my eighteenth birthday. One particular day I sat in my car listening to WFLI, an AM radio station out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. That was when I heard a song that would affect my life from that day forward. I remember thinking that it was the greatest thing I had ever heard and that the DJ just had to announce the title and the singer. He did. The song was Come Monday and the singer was Jimmy Buffett.

I quickly bought up every Jimmy Buffett eight-track cassette…

I trimmed the shrubs.

Today I turned up the radio on the front porch and set a cold beer in the shade where I could easily reach it. Then I commenced to trim the shrubs. On the one hand it was a simple and routine event. On the other hand…well, on that hand, I extended a firm straightened middle finger into the face of the aging process.

You see, I chose to trim the shrubs with my old manual hedge clippers, in a heat index of 102 and at the age of 65. No electric or gas powered trimmers this…

I’m too polite to be skinny.

I grew up in the south where the cooks are very proud of their talents. To refuse a second helping of anything is to insult the cook in the worst possible way. Many times, a refusal of a second helping from my mother, grandmothers, aunts or even casual acquaintances has been met with, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like my cooking?”

I’m pretty sure this isn’t confined just to the south. I’ve dined with people from all parts of the country, who upon seeing me take my last mouthful, immediately tell me to help myself…

A natural disaster helps.

Imagine that you are standing in your living room gazing at your “stuff.” A wildfire is only ten miles away and the news reports say that it is moving in your direction. You have at the most 48 hours before you may have to evacuate. What do you take?

My wife and I were in that exact predicament just months after moving from coastal Georgia to Colorado. …

First, do no harm.

I recently received my Medicare card. As milestones go, it’s right up there with the appearance of grey hair and the first Viagra prescription. I can’t say that I was surprised to see it arrive in the mail. After all, my 65th birthday is right around the corner. But opening the envelope and seeing that red, white and blue card really brought home the fact that I am approaching the back end of my life.

If I follow my parents and grandparents example, I can count on another twenty to thirty years. That’s not bad. I’ll…