From May 8, 2014
Tomorrow, God willing, I will have completed 65 years on this planet and will become an official and bona fide Senior Citizen. To avoid hurting my feelings, some people will call me “older” instead of “old.” Somehow, in defiance of the rules of English, “older” has become not so old as “old.”
Who ever thinks he’s going to wind up 65 years old?
I take comfort in the words of Casey Stengel, who said, “A lot of people my age are dead. You could look it up.” And in the words of Solon, who, when asked what made him so brave against the tyranny in Athens, said, “Old age.”
I have already been accused of being just too damn old to understand and appreciate the wonderfulness of the libs’ ‘n’ progs’ program for America. If only I were younger, I would celebrate sodomite pseudomarriage and easily see the need to give the government vast new powers to deal with threats like Global Warming and racism.
Heaven forbid.
I don’t feel like an old man. I can still play basketball as poorly as I ever played it. Freddy the Pig and Rick Brant still delight me. My wife and i can still amuse ourselves by making rude noises, especially when a certain politician’s face appears on our computer screen. And Last of the Summer Wine has taught me that you’re never too old for fun and mischief.
Still, it’s a major milestone, and I thought I ought to say something.
I would very much like to be still here to see secular liberalism crash and burn, discredited forever, its proponents heaped with shame and chased out of office forever.
This afternoon would be a good time for that.
Happy Birthday, Lee! And many happy returns! You rock, you really rock!
Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you–no one has ever said that to me before.
Well, well, happy birthday, congratulations on reaching this lofty plateau, and still being so sharp with mind and pen. Now, let me say, you are still a kid; you’ve seen nothing yet. I turned 81 on April 3, and I STILL don’t feel like an old woman. (even if somebody tells me I am) Just blow it off and whistle on down the road, knowing that you know so much more than “they” do.
Well, Erlene, I’m aging as fast as I can!
Happy Birthday. My old Mom always said she did not feel any older-just did the usual things a bit slower. But,at 87 years of age, her kids, including me, were telling her to slow down on the highway. somehow, her age never affected her lead foot. As a kid, she loved fast horses, and it was just natural. She only had one driving accident, and that was at about her age about 40, when she just for some reason, just slowly drove a one ton truck off the road into a dich and rolled it over.. Before that, she had quite a few horse drawn “runaways.” I was in on one of those as a kid. She was only 5″ 2″ , but at age about 14, she could drive a big four horse team pulling farm equipment.
today, the libs just cannot wait to ban driving for anyone over age 75, like me. We are so dangerous, even though we usually manage to stay out of the path of the young wilding bunch. In our area, the women are getting to be the worst at selfish road habits.
Dave Canada Best. Dave
Thank you, Dave. Got news for you, though–if the libs had their way, they would be the only ones allowed to drive.
Happy birthday, Lee! Many happy returns!
Thank you, Laura. I don’t feel 65! By the time I figure out what it’s supposed to feel like, I won’t be 65 anymore.
Happy Birthday!! If it makes you feel any better I’m half your age and don’t understand or appreciate the wonderfulness of the libs’ ‘n’ progs’ program for America either.
That program doesn’t look any better as you get older.
Over thirty years ago at age 62 my husband and I began praying seriously for our country (at last!). My husband ascended the pearly steps to the pearly gate. (I’m still here!) I thought I would never see our prayers answered but, amazingly, a great many of them are being!!!!
We do have an almighty, merciful, forgiving Creator God.
There’s still hope and, who knows, I may still see the 180 degree turn-around- we need–God willing!
Oh, me! I forgot! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! i just love the entry about Dave’s mother! I’ve never d”riven” a horse but my old horse-powered car and I do a little whirl-winging now and then. With friends like you have, who cares about old-aging. Lotsa candles to you today!
In many cultures, the aged are respected, or even revered. Somehow, this has been lost to much of modern culture. Earlier this morning, I spoke with a fellow in his late 70s, and he stated that he was the same person he was when he was a child. Same here, but in every case, years of life experience equip a person to see through the nonsense, and to see what has, and what has not worked, in the past.
No longer can I claim to be young, but I am certainly not able to function. I work with highly technical equipment, exert myself in exercise no differently than I did ten years ago; actually, considerably more than I did ten years ago. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I certainly have more answers than I did when I was half my current age.
It’s funny, but sometimes when one is 18, one knows everything. That changes (hopefully) as one matures. Aging should make us wiser. And it usually does.
When I was 16, I knew absolutely everything. I was prepared to advise even people twice my age even about life’s most challenging questions. Want proof, hop in your time machine and have a chat with my 16 year old self, and I’d be glad to tell you, face-to-face. Strangely, I’ve become a lot dumber since then and tend to keep more of my opinions to myself.
One thing I have learned in life, is that there is no substitute for experience, in any field. The last time I hired someone in a technical capacity, experience was the only meaningful factor in my evaluation. Education without experience was essentially worthless to me as a hiring manager. Likewise for earning history; too much meant that I wouldn’t be able to retain this employee over the long term, while a low income history suggested that this candidate was not advancing in their field, and therefore not a safe investment for the department I headed.
In the end, I hired the person who had been filling that slot as a temporary employee, and he remains there nearly 15 years later, succeeding me as department head after I moved on.
With age, should come wisdom.
Or if not wisdom, at least a conditioned response to detect when life is ready to slap you down.
A warning system.
🙂