The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Finally decided to visit some family who do not live in the same house I do.
It’s a bit of a trek and I’ve been locked up since I got my haircut on March 11, 2020.
So, I thought ‘shakedown cruise.’ I thought Cedar Key.
Come into town real low and real slow, take the long way along the water, and see a woman I know coming this way on her golf cart.
Hey, I holler. She stops.
Hey, Mary Ellen.
She doesn’t know me. You can see she’s puzzled.
My wife leans over and says hello.
Oh, hi, Mary Ellen says.
You, I recognize.
Him, he looks like eight or nine guys in town.
See photo above.
I am working on a Pyramid Of Aging.
Top of the pyramid is SURVIVAL, of course.
Then – next level – is COMFORTABLE.
Then, HEALTHY.
FIT.
The base for all happiness is the bottom level, the base of the pyramid
MOBILITY. By which – in a perfect world – I mean RUNNING.
Your results may vary.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Maslow’s works a person up the pyramid. My pyramid also goes up, but the creature itself is going down.
Get to the mountain top, you’re dead.
We’re told life is like a bell curve. Starts out you can’t walk nor talk and we all end up the same way.
About midway through, I began to see a series of plateaus, ascending steps up that lasted a while.
If you are lucky, you aren’t stuck there before you improve again.
Reach a certain point, likely different for all of us, we begin to come down off that top landing.
Which, it must be noted, we never quite knew was the top landing until we began our trip back down.
And the plateaus on the darker side of the mountain can be shorter.
So it’s not too early to take better care of yourself.
I like me some words and so I was looking at ‘comfortable.’
Comfort table = positive plateau.
Like a fish with water, I don’t notice the pain unless it disappears.
Which it only does when I sleep.
A young poker pro prophesized I would live a long time and all that time I would be in pain.
My first thought was, I confess, a bit negative. I thought, well, hell, yeah, that sounds about right. Just the kind of hand I’d be dealt. My own doctor says I’m fragile.
Second thought, fuck him. (The doctor, not Ace.)
Pain for a long time? Dude, that’s what you do, that’s who you are.
Got a note here – change the words you tell yourself.
Got a wife here – stop talking about it, she said.
Pain is sensations.
Calamari, nobody ordered it until they changed the name from squid..
Pre-owned cars are used, for God’s sake. And what’s up with lower-floor penthouses?
Where was I? Charlie Spedding. [See below.]
Weeding is stretching is walking. Too hot in August to weed. So, I stopped weeding.
Lesson learned? Must not stop weeding, must change how I weed. https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=299
What were we talking about? Oh, yeah, words.
Mongrels of the past are offered today as ‘designer dogs.’
The local classifieds -“Havashihpooh (Havanese Shih Tzu & Poodle mix) Rare colors. $2800 & up.”
Havashihpooh? Let’s call it what it is. It’s a Pooch.
Meanwhile, the pound is full of “terriers,” another name for pit bulls, who will treat you like God for just $70.
Shots included.
I am sure you get my point.
Bottom line, I feel sensational.