Elaine and I are enjoying life and friends in the Bay Area, wrapped around retirement, some medical issues and prescriptions (but nothing too threatening as yet), travel (some reasonably exotic so-called "adventure travel"), family (read "grandchildren"), staying somewhat fit, and good books.
Aging seems to be a process of replacing things. Replacing lawyering with leisure time. Replacing skiing with golf. Replacing golf with Rascal walks and birding. Replacing worn body parts with new ones. Replacing full heads of dark mane with gray wisps. Seems to be an ongoing relentless process. What cannot be replaced, however, are all the good memories of seven decades and counting.
Rascal, our 8-year old black lab which we have had with us since he was a pup, is a great distraction and is keeping us tromping around the hills and giving us a friend to discuss things with who is happy with most all decisions. He lives up to his name, which was given to him by a grand-daughter when both were young. He sometimes listens to my requests, and less frequently to Elaine's, but we love him dearly. Particularly when he is sleeping on his cushion by the door, guarding the shire.
Children and grandchildren, of which we have more than our share, keep us on our toes and remind us of how "unyoung" we are. We can only hope that the world they are inheriting is as rich and enjoyable as ours has been. These days that hope can seem a fervent one, but every generation has had its moments, and the world will most likely continue to turn a while longer. May they and their parents be as blessed as we have been.
I have undertaken a new project. I dug out the old boxes of good, old fashioned photographs in their little paper folders, of which there are many. I am sorting them into piles for many of those remarkable people who appear in these various pictures and I expect to give the appropriate pictures to the appropriate people when I am finished. What they do with them is not too important to me, but I trust they will awaken memories of some good times past before they are dealt with. At least they won't be hiding in long forgotten folders.
I can say that sorting through the photographs has been a reliving of some things long forgotten. Places, friends, events and adventures of the pleasurable past. Whether or not the intended recipients of the many photos are happy to receive them, I have been happy to go through them and relive many decades of exciting and enjoyable times.
