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That was the week that was....

10/12/2018

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42.

Relating   

The week that was....

About a week ago heard from a neighbor about another neighbor, a lady in her early 70's, who after having neck surgery, was undergoing heart surgery.  She was deaf as was her husband but managed to function and stay in shape.  Who knows what pressures she was really under.  We got along.

Received an email from my sister telling me of a man I grew up with who 6 mos ago was up and about now in a wheelchair thin as a rail.  He had been nicely put together, played high school basketball a bit and was a good student  To me it sounded like a nerve disorder but that is just a  hunch. She also reported a contemporary of hers who had been active having a stroke recently in her early 70's.  My old friend was 69.

My sister said it was interesting to see how nature and the 'timetable' started to take over on schedule.  Interesting, but I added Mark's mother had lived into her 100's and this generation had been compromised healthwise, not having the base to negotiate age with its new demands.

Another neighbor yesterday gave me a lift to the supermarket which was surprisingly flooded by a downpour and on the way back told me why an ambulance was in front of Pete's place, right opposite me.  Yes, 'why.”

He said Pete a week ago had collapsed on the floor at 67, perhaps from an aneurysm, and was given no chance to live unless he had surgery which he had and is now fighting for his life.  His son, a millennial who lived with them, applied CPR originally with no effect.  His wife and son spend all day at the hospital these days.  They were nice. 

Pete still worked at sales for NPR and I'm convinced the stressful 20 mile drive to work hurt.  You end up like a machine or part of it.  I got sick years ago when I had to often negotiate the same drive.  We sometimes ran into one another admiring the setting sun in Florida and the clouds.  I noticed recently Pete would be on his porch just staring.
He would often give advice about my car.

Down here many people used to be snow birds.  Some still are but not as many.  Instead, many work into their sixties and beyond.  The bottom line of money concerns can be a real stressor, even a killer.  Anyhow, after  hearing about Pete I felt listless for the rest of the day.  I wondered 'why?'

I've noticed a certain not caring attitude with people, a kind of 'who can make sense of life so why bother.'  On Facebook an English lady 'friend' who posts often about the ridiculous spoke of her mother recently dying and her grieving over it.  She said the good news is that grieving made her lose weight.  I wrote to her 'I'm happy/sad for your losses,' which she liked.  Now usually at the end of a post  she would say 'love and light,' but this time she wrote 'hate and dark.'

This is what I've sensed, a kind of 'I don't give a sh...t anymore' attitude.  Everything has been tried, little seems to work, so who cares.

After hearing about Pete, the next morning I was slow in getting up.  Some of my own health issues I thought about.  Then I stayed still.  Then I seemed to hear, 'You still have the light Steve.  It's no joke.  It's real.  Play it out.'  It was good to hear this and needed.









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