KEEP YOUR MEMORIES SOFT AND SWEET

 

KEEP YOUR MEMORIES SOFT AND SWEET

 

Keep your words soft and sweet because someday you may have to eat them. Have you ever heard that? Well, I changed it up just a bit. Keep your memories soft and sweet because someday they may have to sustain you. This column is going to be a departure from my normal ranting about politics to deal with something much more personal.  I hope you'll bear with me this one time. 

 

I just celebrated my 82nd birthday. And in about a month, Linda and I will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary. I'm not bragging, it is just that these events play into the column I have chosen to write. 

 

First, I have never been 82 before so, in many ways, I don't know what to expect. For a certainty things are different for me now. I definitely experience more pain now than ever in my past. I move more slowly. I find an afternoon nap has become more common for me. Is this all normal? My doctor doesn't know or at least he won't say.  When I was very young, there were few older people for me to talk to and even fewer of them were men. I knew they were slow to move around but they didn't complain about pain. They must have been tougher than me. I have pain in places that I didn't even know I had places.

 

I have also become aware that the foods I have enjoyed my whole life now have a tendency to bite me back. I can remember sitting down and eating a whole pizza by myself. No more. A couple slices of a medium pizza and I am stuffed. Not only that but everything I eat or drink seems to show up on my semi-annual blood test. It was only after I became an old man that I had ever heard of A1c and what it was all about. Well, I know now.

 

A lot of things have changed in my life to be sure. So, what is my future to be? Am I relegated to sitting in my easy chair and watching the world go by? I know beyond a doubt that I won't be running over mountains chasing deer and elk anymore.  I do well to walk out to the car. So what do I do to sustain myself? 

 

The answer turns out to be really quite simple. I now have to rely on my memories. While I can't chase a deer over a mountain anymore, I can certainly remember when I did. I can also remember eating the game which I harvested. The deer, the elk, the pheasants, and the many other wild game species I was fortunate enough to take. Those memories are certainly sweet. You'd have to admit though it's much easier opening a package of steak from the grocery store than chasing an animal down, shooting it, dressing it, then carrying it several thousand yards down a mountain. 

 

It is good to have these memories now. My life, our life, has been memorable. We will spend our remaining time here happy with our lives. It has definitely been sweet.

 

Ron Scarbro October 31, 2022