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Tag Archives: growing old

Losing connections

We are renting a condominium right on the water at Sea Ranch, about 150 miles above San Francisco. I have been going to sleep when I get tired instead of when a particular television program ends, usually about 9:30 or 10:00. In the early morning, I turn over in my bed and look at theContinue reading “Losing connections”

Our Children Are Not Our Children

This is a photograph of my grandchildren looking out on the Pacific Ocean. They have their backs to us, and that is appropriate.  As Kahlil Gibran writes in his poem On Children: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. …….. You may house their bodiesContinue reading “Our Children Are Not Our Children”

On being 71

A few weeks from my 71st birthday, here are some thoughts. Everybody has arthritis. Dr. Gerard Malanga, an outstanding doctor who advised me on a painful shoulder, said, “Everybody has arthritis after a certain age. The question is, ‘Does it hurt?’” My arthritis hurts only occasionally, and for that I credit my other best-doctor-in-the-world, VolodymyrContinue reading “On being 71”

Husbands and crutches

I just hobbled to my desk, hugging two crutches under my left arm so I could carry a mug of hot tea in my right hand.  I broke tiny bones in my foot and this is what I am reduced to. Fifteen years ago I badly sprained my ankle and had to commute to theContinue reading “Husbands and crutches”

Commission a portrait?

Shall I commission a portrait? Who am I?  The Queen of England?   Meeting Mia, what she said.  I loved seeing her process, and it was fun. Meet my great great grandfather, Charles Gayler, a successful and famous playwright of the mid-18th century. He looks down on me at my desk, reminding me of aContinue reading “Commission a portrait?”

Stories from the nursing home

I have to stop writing about the nursing home. People don’t want to read about them. Do they? I can’t promise this will be my last story from the nursing home,  but I can’t resist. I have been visiting my aunt in a spacious, sunny, clean, pleasant, friendly place which would not, by the way,Continue reading “Stories from the nursing home”