Saturday, March 9, 2019

Mr. 80

Happy birthday, Mr. 80.

Oops... turns out I am not 80 at all but rather, as my daughter pointed out, I am 79. Let's chalk it up to a 79-year-old's foible.

80 is a roundy, rattling number, sort of like a couple of marbles in the mouth, idly moving here to there, idly clicking. I kind of like 80 -- at least on first blush. It's smooth and of course I'm never going to turn 80 ... except for the fact that I have ... I guess ... turned 80.

Who'd-a-thunk it? Not I, that's for certain.

And the door is still open.

"A whisper from your past" sends an unsigned, meticulously-hand-written card ... peaceful as a pomegranate. I like it but know I will never find out who sent it. N'importe ... it's peaceful and I'm thankful.

In the news, there is another belching about anti-semitism in the U.S. and else where. Lots of breast-beating and yet no where in the earnest observations do I find one reference to the elephant in the Israeli living room -- the Palestinians against whom Israel unleashes an apartheid that would do Hitler proud. How can this be a rational or even very helpful approach? There is something prim and protected and infuriating about it.

Religion and Israel seem to lose their grasp as I rattle marbles in my mental mouth.

4 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday, Adam. For some reason I thought you
    had arrived in 1940, but guess I was mistaken. N'importe. You are here and you remain, thank heaven. No harm in rounding upward.

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  2. Looks like it takes over a year of preparation to actually turn 80.

    As ever get enuff zzz, watch your diet and exercise. A little pranayama and zazen meditation would hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The day after I turned 69 I began preparing for turning 70 - by saying, repeatedly, that I was 70. So when 70 arrived it was a non-event. Perhaps you're unconsciously doing the same.

    ReplyDelete