Yesterday the Mayor of Louisville gave a press conference and shared the following information. There are approximately 300 telephone poles and 6000 wires down in the greater Louisville area. Many of the people who would be working on fixing this are actually in the Gulf helping it to recover from the worst of Hurricane Ike. Power for some people in my area could be out 10 to 14 more days. My wife and I went to the grocery store on Monday night. It was one of the few that has power. When you eliminate food that requires cooking and refrigeration, what you basically have are peanut butter, Pop Tarts, and fruit. Amazingly, it wasn't a war zone and was not very crowded. It's probably because very little of the available food can actually be prepared and eaten. Those who can, cook on gas grills. I had to throw away all the food in my refrigerator. At the local convenient store the hot commodities were gasoline ($4.19 a gallon) and coffee ($1.29 for a small cup). People were lined up at both. Starbucks stock is probably going up while my 401K goes down the drain. There are a few fast food restaurants open for business. Some will only allow drive through business. As you can imagine, there is usually a long line. I find all of this tolerable but also a bit scary. When you take away the basics of life, society can quickly fall into anarchy. If you don't believe me, watch the evening news. The good news is that most people are still being patient at this time and there was still peace and cooperation at Thornton's coffee machine this morning. Now if I can just get some laundry done.
There is no doubt in my mind that I have a 57 year old body. I have the scars and aches and pains to prove it. I am bald, my hair is gray, I'm half blind, I've blown some of my hearing out from too many loud rock concerts, my knees hurt when I walk down the stairs, and when I sleep late on the weekends I wake up feeling like a 90 year old man. My first ten or fifteen steps each day are like watching the evolution of man from a creature walking on all fours to the moment in history when he could stand straight up on two feet. I take prescription drugs twice a day and my intestinal tract is like a very delicate eco system that must be carefully balanced or it is upset. At the same time, even though I am sometimes forgetful and have "senior moments", I think my mind is probably as good as it's ever going to be. I feel intelligent but that might just be a personal opinion. In spite of all of this, in many ways this is the best time of my life. I am generally relaxed about life and it's challenges. There is not much that really upsets me. I still get annoyed and frustrated, and sometimes I flail, but such feelings pass quickly and are forgotten even faster. As the famous baseball player, Satchel Paige, once said, "Age is mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter". When I do things like attend a rock concert I am not trying to recapture my lost youth. It may, however, be an attempt to not get old. Using the "if you don't use it, you'll lose it" attitude, if I don't rock and roll, rocking on the front porch may be all I can do. Even though my mind sometimes "clocks" like a computer trying to pull data, I nevertheless always try to keep it open and ready for a new idea or another way of looking at life. I hope my mind and body can be active until my last breath. I hope my eyes are remain good enough that I can always read books. I hope my ears can always hear music and the sound of laughter. I hope I never loose my sense of humor so others can hear me laughing. I hope I can always type so I can continue to write. I hope my heart always works so it can pump blood through my body and that I can always feel love for life and people. I hope I am always passionate about life and beauty. At some point I will surely wear out this body so I hope when that day comes I can relax knowing I got all I could out of it. I also hope that the spirit of Michael will continue to live on in whatever form it may take.
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