Posted on September 16, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

One ringy dingy

 

“Retirement for me was the enemy because I had so much to offer.”

Harriet Cohen – 88-Year-old divorce lawyer

Very often I start my posts with a few lines from a song, but I must admit, that peering at my computer screen early yesterday morning, I couldn’t quite find the right song to go with the above quote. I went walking with a friend Tuesday evening and she was asking me about the subtle pressures of writing something new and fresh twice a week as I have been doing now for 10 years without a pause. I told her that I didn’t have a clue what today’s post would be about. When in doubt, re-till old soil.

After 1,254 posts, it is hardly surprising that there is some repetition in the themes. Well, guess what? I am 70 and I can damn well repeat myself as often as I feel like it. I do it in person so why not in print! Actually, repeating oneself is a badge of honor, and part of being a senior citizen.

A good friend sent me the story about Harriet Cohen. It is from The Wisdom Corner (Oprah Winfrey). Harriet is an amazing woman by all accounts, still living life with the throttle wide open. When asked by the interviewer if she was wise, here is what she had to say: “What I’ve learned about myself is that I was very blessed. With enormously good education, very good health, a very good attitude, and the ability to absorb and to internalize everything that I learn so that when it came time to start the third life of Harriet Cohen, not at age 41, but at age 88, I was ready for it.”

I thought I was ready for retirement 5 years ago. Now I am rethinking the whole concept of retirement. The theoretical age for retirement is 65 but I think this notion is getting an overhaul. At one point in time retirement age was tied to life expectancy. Because we are living longer, and in many cases healthier, why would we want to stop using all the knowledge and skills accumulated over a lifetime?

I have to say that I am loving my new, reinvented life as an all- purpose person in my school. There’s that word again: purpose. It just seems to me that the people who have a purpose in life are generally healthier and happier. I am learning new things every day. This week, our principal and vice-principal are away all week at meetings and our head maintenance man is down south for the week. Another teacher and I were handed the reins.

There’s never a lack of surprises and this week we were dealing with a water issue. We had to do a lot of problem solving. I have to admit that I was so busy that I didn’t have much time to think about my aching joints. I also met some new people who were pretty amazing – very smart and talented in their fields including an environmental engineer who originally hails from Nigeria.

I am not suggesting that everyone should spring off the couch and start some brand new adventure. Septuagenarians never spring off the couch. We can’t. It’s more like a slow roll. Many of you are exhausted from a lifetime of toil and want to spend your retirement years taking it easy. Nothing wrong with that.

Like Harriet Cohen, I feel very fortunate. I have a reasonably good education, good health, good energy and curiosity.

The most important thing I have is friends in abundance.

I am coming to the conclusion that retirement is my enemy too.

One of these days I’ll hit the snooze button but while I can, it’s full steam ahead.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on September 9, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Annie and her small friend. At the end of a long walk, this puppy needed a lift!

 

I think I’m going to the dogs.

Is it my imagination or has there been a decided proliferation in the number of dogs in recent years? Even before Covid hit, it seemed that almost everyone owned a dog. There are some neighborhoods in Canada where it appears that there are covenants requiring one child and at least one dog. I am told that as a result of the pandemic, there are long waiting lists to get a dog. This makes sense. With so many people cooped up in their homes for extended periods of time, having someone to keep you company (who won’t get on your nerves!) must be a blessing, especially for seniors who tend to find isolation more challenging.

When I first arrived in India five years ago, I was astonished at the number of dogs in villages, towns, and cities. Most of them were strays roaming in packs in search of food. They never bothered me on my walks. Yes, I did a lot of walking in India too.

I don’t know if anyone has ever conducted a study comparing the number of dogs per capita from one region of the world to another but I feel quite confident that villages in Canada’s north would be strong contenders for the title of dog capital of the world. I might be barking up the wrong tree on this one.  There are a lot of dogs in my village. They never growl or bark when they come near you. The only time I hear barking is from a pack of sled dogs who live a stone’s throw away from where I’m living these days in Kangiqsujuaq. You always know when its feeding time as they make quite a racket when their owners show up with bearded seal meat or fish.

Invariably when I go walking in the north, it is with a group of colleagues and many of them own dogs. They seem obsessed about their dogs and have Messenger pages dedicated to their four-legged friends. I tease my friends and call their page “Pooch Porn”. When my friends take their dogs, several of the community’s unclaimed canines join us. The dogs are great company and act as an early warning system. When they start barking out on the tundra or in the mountains, you know that some kind of wildlife is nearby. Might be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

I like dogs but I don’t have any plans to own one any time soon. I have Sirius satellite radio in my new digs and can dial up radio stations from all over the world.

I have already written about this but my return to the north for the third time is certainly a charm. Never before have I felt a sense of belonging like I am experiencing now. I truly feel like I’m part of the community. It can take a long time to be accepted in any small community in Canada when you are an outsider but if you’re patient and stay long enough, the rewards are, well, rewarding. I can’t go very far without someone calling my name or stopping to chat. I am a well known walker in the village. The local community buses have stopped offering me rides to the grocery store! Even people who seemed reticent to engage me during my first two years are now friends. Belonging is one of those things that’s hard to describe. It is a feeling and a precious one at that.

I feel so fortunate that I have a purpose in life as a septuagenarian. I think it is a major contributor to good physical and mental health, particularly in the third period of life. You don’t have to keep working in your 70s but finding a meaningful activity to keep you stimulated is pretty important. It could be employment, a hobby, visiting the sick and shut-ins or simply trying to stay fit through exercise or some intellectual activity.

Or it may be as simple as walking your dog.

(With apologies to my cat loving fanatics!)

Have a great weekend.

Posted on September 2, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with 3 comments

 

 

“Bye bye love, bye bye happiness,

Hello loneliness, I think I’ma gonna cry.”

Bye Bye Love – The Everly Brothers

Don’t go running for the kleenex box right yet. This is not a tearjerker nor is it about romance so don’t go trying to read anything into the start of this piece. I’m not sure that romance writing (or romance!) is my strong suit. Actually, I’m not sure I even have a strong suit even though I’ve bid six spades occasionally playing bridge.

Bye bye, Don Everly. Don Everly died two weeks ago. His brother and singing partner, Phil, died seven years ago.

I could hardly be called a music aficionado. While I am enthusiastic about music, I am not particularly knowledgeable. I never took formal music lessons and unlike many of my contemporaries, I never dug too deeply into the music of the day. I’m not one of those music junkies who knows the names of every band member of every group that played back in my time. I know the names, John, Paul, Ringo and George but don’t ask me the members of The Band.  I have friends who are sports nuts. No, they are just plain nuts because they can still dredge out the most mundane statistics from virtually every sport. They are walking encyclopedias of totally useless information.

Lyrics to songs never completely captivated my attention. One of the beauties of country and western music is that even a casual listener can understand a wife leaving, the truck breaking down and the dog dying. I didn’t dive into the lyrics looking for symbolism or hidden messages. I never played a vinyl album in reverse to see if a song was written by or for the devil. In other words, I was a bit of a musical simpleton. If the song sounded good, I would listen to it. If I loved it, I would go to the music store, lay down a few bucks, and then wear out the grooves on my turntable.

“Dream, dream, dream, dream,

Dream, dream, dream, dream,

When I want you , in my arms

When I want you, and all your charms,

Whenever I want you, all I have to do is,

Dream, dream, dream, dream.”

I loved groups that harmonized. I still do which is why The Everly Brothers remain one of my favourite duos of all time. Their harmonies were pure and sweet, and their lyrics were beautiful in their simplicity. Of course, they were a big deal in the 1960s, right around the time that I was discovering the mysteries of biology, chemistry, trigonometry, poetry and women. I was a pretty good student in high school. I uncovered many of the mysteries of academics. Learning about women was much trickier. I’m still working on that one!

All I have to do is Dream. Wake up Little Susie. Take a Message to Mary. Cathy’s Clown. So many of The Everly Brothers hits were about love lost and found.

Many of you know that I played in a band when I was a teenager, called The Escorts. No, we weren’t an escort service! We performed at the Parish Center in my hometown and had a regular gig in Ingonish Beach in the summer. We weren’t flashy. The musicianship was top notch but none of the band members were going to blow you away with jaw dropping riffs. The band was known for its harmonies. We gave dance goers exactly what they wanted. We could do a reasonable imitation of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Young Rascals. We played songs that were popular on the hit parade.

“Sitting alone in an old rocking chair,

I saw an old mother with silvery hair,

She seemed so neglected by those who should care,

Rocking alone in an old rocking chair.”

Rocking Alone in an Old Rocking Chair was always a bit of a puzzle to me. I didn’t seem to fit the mold of other Everly Brothers songs. That didn’t stop us from singing it because, well, it sounded great. I didn’t know a damn thing about old age when I was a teenager. Our grandparents seemed ancient and with very large, Catholic families it was hard to comprehend how an old person could be neglected, as the song goes. Much later in life, I learned the sad reality that many old people die of loneliness.

I didn’t know much about love or old age when I was 16. I am much better acquainted with old age now, but love remains a mystery.

“I’m through with romance, I’m through with love,

I’m through with counting, the stars above.”

I would like to emphatically state that I am neither through counting stars nor with love!

Thanks to Don and Phil who helped shape my childhood. May you harmonize in the heavens above.

Have a great weekend.