HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

When I get older, losing my hair,
many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine,
birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out 'til quarter to three,
would you lock the door?
Will you still need me,
will you still feed me,
when I'm sixty-four?

Reaching 64 years of age is a milestone, mostly because it’s one of the few ages mentioned in a Beatles song. Also, I never thought all that much about my age when I was “just seventeen.” But, now, like the guy in the song quoted above, I have many questions about the age I have attained and the circumstances in which I find myself.

Will the wonders of this world in which I live, a world filled with natural beauty, decent people and continued promise survive all the terrible things done to it by people who are not decent, by people who are driven by religious zealotry, by their lust for even greater power and wealth than they currently possess, by people guided by bigotry and fear?

Will my country, which, tragically, has its share of those terrible people, turn its back on the ideals and promise of America and cede control to the deceitful and arguably insane right-wing servants of the wealthiest and most powerful monsters in our land?

Will those who live in paranoid, unreasoning fear that Sharia Law will reign in America ever realize their desire for laws based on their own religion is cut from the same cloth?

Will we be less than the Americans we must be, the Americans many people around the world see as our planet’s best hope for life and liberty, peace and happiness?

On more personal notes...

How will Sainted Wife Barb and I deal with a looming “new normal” for our lives? After over a quarter-century with first Kaiser and, more recently, the company (Healthspan) that bought Kaiser's Ohio operations, Barb’s job and, indeed, all Healthspan medical services here, will be concluded by or around the end of March 2016. We’re in good shape even if Barb doesn’t find another full-time job - which isn’t a certainty for a 59-years old pharmacist and manager no matter how glowing her resume and how just plain great she has always been at her job - but we are quite naturally nervous about what our lives will be like in the near future and beyond.

Will our adult children continue to succeed and thrive in the years to come? Will we be able to be there for them?

Will I have the health and strength to do all the things I want to do? All the things I must do?

Will I still be able to connect with an audience in the future and will I still have the opportunities to do so?

What will be my life be like when I am 64 and 65 and so on?

Isn’t this the worst birthday celebration ever?

All grimness aside, though I may have concerns about my future and that of the world, I am a reasonably happy man.

I have Barb, Eddie and Kelly. I have a cat who sometimes seems to like me. We live in a nice home in a nice neighborhood with great neighbors. We have friends we love and who love us.

I have written many things of which I am very proud and which have entertained a great many readers. It looks like I will continue to have the opportunities to write many more things of which I can be proud and which will, hopefully, entertain a great many readers in the years to come.

I have many things I still want to write. I have many things I still want to do. Even when the bad stuff in this world gets me down, I take heart from all of those things I want to write and do. They mean I can envision a future.

I am still in a position to help people less fortunate than myself. Maybe not to the extent I would like to help people, but I always hope that will change for the better.

So, yeah, happy birthday to me...and, if the universe is kind, many more good years of joy, creativity and success to come.

Thanks for all your good wishes on this day.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.  

© 2015 Tony Isabella