My mother has been dead many years. I seem to miss her more each day. Sounds strange, I know. However she pops into my head one or more times a day.
Seems we both got closer as we got older. I would stop to see her on my way home most evenings. We would sit at the kitchen table. She had a bottle of Beefeater, glass and ice cubes ready.
She was not a drinker at all. However she did not mind me having one with as we talked.
We chatted about everything. From my work, to the kids, what was new, etc.
Our relationship became deeper as the years progressed.
Her death killed me!
Do not think our relationship was that good in my formative years. My mother was a disciplinarian. Born in the old country. Many the large pasta bowl or large wooden spoon she broke over my head.
She viewed me as a bad boy and I never understood. I was the best of kids.
In my adult years, I discovered in conversations with other Italian boys that their mothers did the same thing. An ethnic trait I guess.
I do not recall my sister ever being punished. Girls could do no wrong.
I am 85. Soon to be 86. An interesting time. Age makes you an historian of sorts. Some experiences were had in the past many years ago. They repeat themselves. The result not always the same, however.
George Will is the Washington Post columnist. A true conservatist. A black hearted Republican.
I always thought he was too conservatist. As my years have added up however, I find many of my thoughts coincide with his. I was a liberal. Age has made me conservative in any respects. Today I consider myself a right leaning liberal. Will never changed. Conservative and remained so.
Will just turned 80. He shared his thoughts about reaching 80 in a Washington Post opinion piece published May 7.
I want to share some of his thoughts, feelings, etc. re reaching 80. Note I am 85. It is surprising how many of our today thoughts run along the same lines.
The opinion piece is titled: What My 80 Years Have Taught Me.” I am selecting some of his thoughts and sharing them with you as well of those of some ancient philosophers. I do not identify the philosophers. This portion of the blog would never end if I did.
Comments contained in the article.
Will begins with an Alan Bennett quote. Already I am deviating from my plan not to mention others. Hopefully Bennett will be the last: “At eighty things do not occur; they recur.”
Will writes the benefit of being 80 is “You’re well beyond the danger of dying young.” Also, “you have more brain cells to devote to other things worth noticing and trying.”
How about there is “no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval.”
As to the evening martini before dinner, he recommends suspending them and instead drinking Manhattans.
An interesting and very true observation: You “are not intimidated by busy body physicians.”
Another, “age imprints more wrinkles in the mind than it does on the face.”
Some aging facts.
In 1941, life expectancy was 64.8 years Today, 77.85 years. Only 6.8 percent of the population lived beyond 65 years, whereas today 16 percent.
Sixty three percent of households did not have telephones. More of the population older than 25 years had no high school diploma. Today, 90 percent do. Homosexual sex was a crime in all 48 states.
“By percentage, the nation’s most rapidly growing age cohort consists of those 85 and older.”
“To be 80 years old in this republic is to have lived through exactly one third of its life.”
An epic event occurred on this day in 1960. One that would change the lives of women forever. The FDA approved the birth control pill.
The pill made women equal to men regarding sex. Provided them with a freedom they never knew before.
I suspected up to 1960, females feared getting pregnant were they to have sex outside marriage. Perhaps the worst that could happen to a woman.
Now the ladies were equal to men. They could enjoy sex as freely as men. The danger of pregnancy would not be a problem if the woman was on the pill.
I find this amusing in a respectful sense. Having been educated in Catholic schools through college, I thought the ladies were reluctant to have sex for religious reasons.
Was I wrong!
The pill also seems to have become the beginning of a woman’s ascendancy in every day life. They went on to smoke, wear pants, become high level executives and professionals. All the while having children. Women proved they could run the house and work at the same time. Men lack the capacity to multi-task.
I went out last night. Whoopee! Had a good time.
I was scheduled to meet my lesbian wives Donna and Terri at 7 at the Red Shoe Island Bistro on Petronia between Duval and Whitehead. A relatively new restaurant.
I parked in the Rams Head lot. Previously the Blue Macaw. One of my pre-pandemic haunts.
A handful of cars in the lot. Surprising. Went into the bar and restaurant. No more than 10 customers. Staff all new. I knew none of them.
Since I was early for Donna and Terri, I had a drink at the Rams Head Bar. Following which I walked down to the Red Shoe Island Bistro. A mere 1 1/2 blocks away.
I started wobbling. Could not understand why. Then it dawned on me. I had forgotten my cane in the car!
I decided to get to the restaurant and worry about the return trip later.
We had dinner at a table set on the sidewalk. Lovely table cloth, napkins and silver wear. A limited menu. Reasonable. Food excellent. The specialty yellow tail. The menu captioned with “Ain’t No Tail As Tasty As Yellow Tail.”
Donna, Terri and I have not seen each other in more than a year. It was like seeing family that you had not seen in quite a while.
Rob manages the restaurant. Ron was our waiter.
We discussed everything. We agreed the political situation in reality was a black/white war. The blacks moving towards a majority in the land and the white Republicans fearful of what might happen.
We talked about new restaurants. One Donna and Terri enjoy is Mary Lins. The old Finnegan’s Wake and Dirty Pig.
Work discussed. Not enough help available. Workers have left because of pandemic and/or high cost of living in Key West.
Restaurants and bars still hurting. Entertainers are being required to work for tips. The tips are minimal and performing is like working for nothing.
We talked about the cost of the new and old high end restaurants. Astronomical!
Hotel rooms came into play. I mentioned the Miami Herald piece that said Key West rooms were as high as $1,100. The piece also indicated Key West was now the most expensive place in the world for a hotel room.
Before we left the subject, I learned that during Spring Break and Easter week, even the cheaper hotels on the Boulevard had some rooms at $1,000.
Ridiculous! Key West is going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
One hotel on the Boulevard actually rented out rooms during those times as high as $1,280 a night.
The walk back to my car was difficult. The cane!
On the way home, I drove through Bahama Village and down Duval. Not many people.
Enjoy your Sunday! Enjoy your Mom if you are lucky to still have her. If not, I know you will think of her.
