All of my Throwback Thursday posts for the month of May will be from our trip to France in May of 2007. If you’d like to read about and see photos from our entire trip to France that year, you can do so at our World Quest Blog.
Today’s Throwback Thursday is a photo of me in front of the Louvre in Paris in May of 2007. It was our first day visiting the historic museum (we returned on two other days during our week in Paris) and was one of the highlights of our trip to France, for me.
Last week I was driving Cindy and her parents to a doctor’s appointment for her mother when we pulled up behind a truck at a stop light. I let out a loud, “Hah!” and pointed to the back of the truck which had this affixed to the tailgate. We all had a good laugh.
As of today, I only have sixty days left in my 50’s. After that, I will enter my 6th decade on this earth. It doesn’t feel like it’s been THAT long when I look back, but the birth certificate doesn’t lie, right?
When I was 19 and in college, I had a professor who was 60, bald, and wore a toupee. A very ill-fitting toupee. Like the horrible monstrosity pictured here. I vowed then that I would never, ever wear such a hideous eyesore upon my head, no matter how bald I might find myself. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve yet to reach such a stage of hairlessness, but my vow holds true because I could never see myself trying to cosmetically cheat the look of aging. Along with the “no toupee” vow, I also pledged to myself that I would never employ hair color to darken my locks, nor have a plastic (such a strange use of the word when skin is involved) surgeon do any tucking, tightening or otherwise unnatural processes upon me purely for cosmetic purposes.
I have no argument with those who do, by the way, as mine is simply a personal oath to age, if not gracefully, then at least naturally. I also don’t view attempts to stave off the effects of aging with exercise to be in that same class of things I would avoid, though I most certainly need to avoid them less and embrace them more.
All of that written to say that when I look in a mirror I see the graying hair and beard, the skin beginning to sag and droop, the spots on the skin and all the other signs of outward aging but I don’t FEEL as if 60 is imminently approaching inside here, in me.
But perhaps a different word than feel is needed here because I definitely feel the aging process, especially when I attempt to do some of the things I did as a younger man. The other day my 2 youngest grandchildren were visiting and I began playing a game with my 2-year-old grandson where I would l hold him under his arms at his shoulders and lift him above my head, only to seemingly drop him while maintaining my grip on him. He found this “scare” to be delightful and kept repeating, “Again. Again.” as he laughed and so as a good granddad I did as he requested. Then his 5-year-old sister decided she would like to get in on the fun. Needless to say, after several minutes this old man began to tire, but how can you say “No more” to your lovely grandchildren? Especially when you are delighting in their laughter.
I felt it in my shoulders and arms the next day. So I do feel the aging process, but my mind still sees the younger man when it looks at me from the inward point of view. I wonder if it will always be like that.
In my almost 60 years it’s been my fortune to have not lost any loved ones (save my childhood friend at the age of 16) outside of the normal course of events. Both my grandparents and parents passed away in their latter years in the typical process that aging brings. I’ve never lost any of my children or grandchildren to tragedy and though I have no belief in any kind of being who directs such things, I do both thank whatever fates are responsible for that and beg that they continue to keep such horrors at bay.
Regrets? Well, as Frank Sinatra sang in the song, “My Way”, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention. I counted the other day and arrived at 5 major regrets I’ve had in my almost 60 years. I won’t share them with you here, but all in all I don’t view 5 as a large number to have had in my lifetime. And I now live every day trying to do what I can to assuage my sense of regret for those. I hope I’m balancing out the scales in some way. But I can’t say that I would change anything in my life because all of it, good and bad, has brought me to where I am today.
During the past almost 60 years I’ve met some people I’ll never forget, and some I rather would. I’ve listened to wonderful music and even played some of it. I’ve read great books, stood in front of art created by masters and contemplated the secrets of the universe. I’ve admired people who were smarter and more talented than me. I’ve judged people on their behavior and actions, not their skin color or station in life. I’ve tried to learn from everyone; from some what to do and from some what not to do. I’ve always tried to do the right thing. I’ve stumbled and fallen, but I always picked myself back up again and kept trying to move forward.
And as I stand at this milestone in my life I can’t help but wonder…what will the next 60 years be like?
One thing’s for sure; no toupee!
…that on this date in 1840, the first official adhesive postage stamp was issued in Great Britain?
Up until the late 1830s, the recipient of the letter was supposed to pay upon delivery. Rates were inconsistent: postage was calculated based on number of sheets of paper and the distance from sender to recipient. The rules were complicated and postage was expensive, and people often refused to pay, costing the government a lot of money.
A schoolmaster named Rowland Hill developed a new system that established uniform postal rates based on weight. The sender would pay with stamps that cost a penny each. The design of the first stamp was an engraved profile of Queen Victoria on a black background, called the Penny Black. Since Britain was the first country to use prepaid postage stamps, they have never printed the name of their country on their stamps, just a portrait of the reigning monarch.
Thanks to The Writer’s Almanac for the above.
A few weeks ago, one of the members of a Facebook Comic Book Collecting group I’m a member of asked us to post a screen capture of our mobile phone wallpaper. All of those posted, of course, had some tie-in to comic books, comic book movies, characters, etc.
Mine, obviously, was this character.
What’s your mobile phone wallpaper look like?
April was a busy month with a variety of good and bad events, which pretty well sums up life in general, doesn’t it?
We ended March and began April with a trip to Daytona Beach for our 18th wedding anniversary. But we got a hint of what April might bring when we had to rush back a few hours early (no big deal) on Wednesday, April 1st after Cindy’s mom had a bad bout of pain and it looked like she might need to go to the hospital. Since her usual back doctor was on vacation and, unbelievably, doesn’t assign his patients to a fill-in doctor, we ended up taking her to a nearby CentraCare where the doctor there diagnosed it as sciatica and prescribed pain medication.
On Saturday the 4th we found out that a friend of ours (Cindy’s Eola Market “husband”) who lives in Tampa was struck by Bacterial Meningitis when his partner called us to let us know he was in the hospital. We drove down to Tampa on the 6th, even though he was unconscious, to offer whatever support we could to his partner, whom Cindy has known for more than a decade. As you can see from the link, Bacterial Meningitis is a very serious and potentially deadly condition. We made several more trips to Tampa over the course of the month and while our friend eventually regained consciousness, he was also placed on dialysis because his kidney functions stopped completely. In addition to the kidney issues, his legs and arms were not getting enough circulation, causing them to become swollen and black (legs and feet) and blue (arms and hands). The good news is that his arms and hands began to improve in condition and he has regained limited use of them as of today. The sad news is that a few days ago he had to have both legs amputated just below the knees. It would be an understatement to say that this will result in major life changes for both he and his partner, as it would for anyone. He’s been transferred to a rehabilitation facility near Tampa and we’re hoping to get to drive down and see him in the next couple of weeks when he’s feeling up to visitors.
Sunday, April 5th, we had a family party with 25 or so family members present. It just so happened my son was home from his long-haul truck driving job, so it was great to have my daughter and son here at the party together. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been at a family party together.
On Thursday, April 9th, I accompanied Cindy’s parents to her mom’s monthly Parkinson’s Support Group meeting, then they treated me to lunch and my first visit to the White Wolf Cafe & Bar. Food was delicious! Afterward, we went to an appointment with my mother-in-law’s back doctor for the back and leg pain she had been suffering with since the end of March.
Friday, April 10th, found us at the hospital at 7am for my mother-in-law to have an MRI done as her back doctor sought to find the cause of her back pain. When we finished up that procedure Cindy and I drove to Tampa to visit our friend.
On Wednesday, April 15th, we drove to Tampa to visit our friend and when we finished up there we drove over to Clearwater to meet my brother for lunch. That was a real treat and highlight of the month, as we hadn’t seen him in almost a year. We got to spend a couple of hours eating, visiting and walking on the beach before we had to head back to Orlando. The visits are never long enough, but I’m thankful for the time.
Cindy’s son, his wife and our two youngest grandchildren, Jade and Maxwell, arrived on April 21st from San Antonio, TX for a week-long visit. We had a lot of fun visiting and spending time with 5-year-old Jade, who spent the night with us on Wednesday, and 2-year-old Maxwell, who spent the night with us on Thursday. Then we babysat both of them on Friday night while mommy and daddy had a date night. They flew back home on Tuesday, April 28th after joining us for breakfast and a final visit before leaving.
Yesterday, Wednesday the 29th, my 9-year-old granddaughter, Heather, fell off a new and higher-than-she-was-used-to bed and broke her collarbone on her right side. The nurse let her mom and I look at the X-ray before the P.A. came in and it looked pretty clear to us that there was a nice clean break. The P.A. arrived a few minutes later and confirmed the broken collarbone and then they had an orthopedic specialist review it as well, then put her in a sling, gave her some pain medicine and we were out of the ER within an hour.
Even more tragic was finding out the same afternoon that the 1-year-old child of the neighbors who live 2 houses down from Cindy’s parents’ home had fallen into their family pool and drowned. I cannot even imagine, nor do I wish to, losing one of my children or grandchildren.
And then, on this final day of April, after a couple of days of coughing, Cindy took our granddaughter Abby to the doctor and the diagnosis was strep throat and bronchitis. The bronchitis was not surprising, given the cough and sound of it, but we had no expectation of strep throat, especially since Abby has not voiced one complaint about her throat hurting.
So, that’s the month of April in a nutshell. All of the above does not include, of course, the weekly Thursday night, Saturday and Sunday markets that Cindy does with her Mountain Creek Candles brand. Those are a constant, so I almost didn’t think to include them.
So, how was YOUR April?
Today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to the spring of 2008 when Cindy and I went camping in North Carolina. We were tent-camping at a wonderful campground called Moonshine Creek in Balsam, NC, not far from Maggie Valley and Sheepback Mountain where we had just purchased some property to build a cabin on. We were hiking around the campground area and Cindy snapped this shot of me.
Today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to April of 2007 when we took Mikey to Universal Studios. He met Spider-Man and Captain America and had a good time all over the park, but this is one of my favorite photos from that day.
Grandma and Mikey at Universal Studios in April of 2007 in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.
Cindy took Ann and our two oldest grandchildren, Mikey and Heather, to Disney’s Animal Kingdom a few weeks ago. Here’s a video I just loved seeing; Mikey having fun and enjoying The Festival of the Lion King.
Back in January, Grandma and I took Abby to Leu Gardens for a short morning visit. I’m finally getting around to looking over the photos I took and I found these six of Abby that I really liked, so I thought I’d post them. Abby is always (ok, almost always) happy to “model” for Granddad so I can try out different shots in different environments and light situations.
I hope you enjoy these shots as much as Abby and I enjoyed taking them.
Abby brought her notebook so she could sketch the various plants and flowers and trees at Leu Gardens. Here, she leans against a tree by the lake as she sketches a nearby flower.
Abby shows her smiling face with Lake Rowena in the background.
Like her Granddad, Abby likes to use her camera to take photos.
Peek-a-boo!
Abby makes friends wherever she goes, even with giant frogs who are sitting and enjoying a cup of tea in the garden.
Abby posing in front of the wooden bridge in the background.
