60 Somehting and Dementia, tponetom
I wrote and posted the following in October, 2009.
I HAVE LED TWO LIVES, TPONE,
My first life can only be described as ‘conventional’. I am sure that most people would concur with the generalities of it.
Feeding on the succulent juices of a mother’s breast, the bonding began. The encircling embrace of a parent’s arms was a passionate security, never to be betrayed.
The goo goo’s and gaa gaa’s would be rewarded with the encouragement of learning a more decipherable vocal connection.
The first three years or so were spent in a protective cocoon.
Those green years were agonizingly slow
If you are near or at the age of 60, give or take a few years, you are about to be re-born. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, but just another phase of nature.
Fact # 1. You can no longer surf around in the disguise of ‘middle-age.’ The hair has definitely receded, if not completely giving up the ghost.’ [[Biotin may help.)
The muscle tone is no longer hitting the ‘sharps’ as often as the ‘flats.’
The midriff, covertly, is still within the bounds of decency but there is a slight puffiness that is resistant to efforts to maintain the tautness, that we all aspire to.
Do you like to be attended to? To be cared for? Kind of like,,,hmmm, a baby?
You are entering that cataclysmic stage that I call, ‘THE INFANCY OF OLD AGE.’
AND NOW, TODAY!
“I’m going to change my way of living and if that’s not enough!
I’m even going to change the way I strut my stuff.
My walk will be different and my talk and my name
Nothing about me’s going to be the same
[[From the song: “There’ll be Some Changes Made.)
ENTER 60!
In 1988, I was at the height of my skills in making maple syrup. The boiling water temperature in the morning would vary with the temperature in late afternoon due to the changing atmospheric pressure. 211.6 degrees in the morning might change to 212.3 in the afternoon. I had to finish/boil the syrup to the nth degree of 7.1 degreess above the afternoon reading. 7.1 higher than 212.3. Voila! 219.4 gave us perfect syrup.
One degree higher would result in crystallization. One degree lower would give us a thin liquidity . [[ Crap in other words.
There were many other details to keep my mind on what I was doing.
Near the end of the season, I became lax. I got a bad, burning smell from the evaporator. I forgot to check the level [[¾’) in the sap pan and it melted a solder joint. In an instant I had to flush the pan with water and then pull the fire to save the pan from a further meltdown.
Little did I know that I was entering the Infant Stage. It was no longer, “Forget Me Nots.” It became, “Forget Me, Yes, you dumb jackass!”
I’ll go into the dementia and aphasia thing, a little later.
