It was a five-month process that culminated today. I called the event “the signing ceremony.” In 2008, when I first drafted my will, I was 61, feeling healthy, pain free, busy building my business and riding my horse. I was still clutching my Boomer Attitude of invincibility and was pretty flippant about all the end-of-life … Continue reading The Will 4/10/24
Author: Septuagenarian
The Lumpy Pillow
It all started when I traveled to a friend’s house and stayed in her guest room. For two nights, I couldn’t sleep as the pillows seemed to be filled with little clumps that felt like soft ping pong balls. As I tossed and turned, my mind came up with a solution. I would purchase a … Continue reading The Lumpy Pillow
Halcyon
Adjective – characterized by happiness, great success and prosperity. This story involves the most important part of the horse. As old cowboys say, “No hoof – no horse.” In the wild, horses roam freely over the earth and wear down their hooves naturally. When we domesticated them, we extended their life span yet also removed … Continue reading Halcyon
Transfiguration
I knew Kathie was in a coma. Yet, I also felt compelled to go and be with her. There were many obstacles on the path that delayed my arrival at her hospital room. By the time I reached her bedside, she was clinically ‘dead.’ I entered the darkened room and sat quietly beside her. Going … Continue reading Transfiguration
Friendship
I want to write about friendship. I have learned from a very knowledgeable confidant that our friendships are related to our attachment styles. We develop these styles based on our very first attachment, or bond – with our mother - the human being out of which we emerged and upon whom we depended for our … Continue reading Friendship
Connection – a Mystery
I have wanted to write this story for a while now, yet each time I try, I bump into the fact that I am attempting to explain a Mystery. I cannot find words. I see evidence everywhere that we are all connected; we are all part of an unfathomable web of life and that we … Continue reading Connection – a Mystery
A Portable Paradise
A poem by Roger Robinson And if I speak of Paradise then I am speaking of my grandmother who told me to carry it always on my person concealed, so no one else would know it but me that way, they can’t steal it, she’d say. And if life puts you under pressure trace its … Continue reading A Portable Paradise
High Altitude English Garden
Any gardener in Colorado will tell you that growing at our altitudes is very challenging. In Denver, we sit at an elevation of 5,280 feet, hence the Mile High City. Geographically, we are described as a high desert, as in not much water. However, I have a friend who has defied the odds and created … Continue reading High Altitude English Garden
A Short Story
A number of challenges have arisen lately, both with my lung function and with some of my friends. It has been in my nature to figure out ‘why,’ determine a reason, choose a course of action then put my understandings in a box, and close the lid, thereby sealing my conclusions and point of view. … Continue reading A Short Story
feline adoration
The first cat I ever loved sauntered out of the woods and onto our porch. She was a lovely calico. Didn’t talk much but always came bearing gifts. Field mice were her specialty. To my knowledge, not a bird lost his life in her jaws. In the morning, we would discover her fresh gift-mouse-entrails on … Continue reading feline adoration