This morning’s walk so different from yesterday’s, at 6:20 AM, the sky bright blue, cloudless with just a trace, a wispy streak, of a jet trail, to provide a little contrast and take away the flatness. A beautiful way to begin the day, a continuation of yesterday’s spiritual lightness. I was glad I’d brought my fresh muffins to the coffee shop where I met Jeff since he ate a couple of them. I joined him for one to go with my Americano coffee, one of the few coffees I drink over the week. Jeff was curious to hear something about my conversation with the “Thursday Boys” since we discussed the many changes that have taken place during our long lives. All us old guys have been impressed with the more recent changes, mainly in the introduction to, and dependence now on, cell phones and computers. Among the group we have only one man who refuses to get involved with computers. He does own a cell phone but insists on keeping control, not letting it control him. Much to his wife’s dismay, he will often ignore incoming calls since it would constitute an interruption to whatever he was doing. I like that defiant stance, refreshing really, reminding us all that we had been able to function for generations without use of modern electronics. So true. But being a writer, I couldn’t imagine ever reverting to, or continuing with, the inconvenience of long-hand writing or even the most advanced typewriters. There is no going back or even trying to hold still, I’m afraid. I see some of he pitfalls but I’m for going along with the changes, learning how to manipulate them, to remain in charge, the master of my destiny, but it’s a slippery business to be sure.
We, the Thursday Boys, have all taken note as well of the change in the way the young communicate. Our grandchildren no longer use email with any frequency, preferring instead to text. Two of the guys, retired teachers who didn’t allow cell phones in their classes, talked about their students doing “blind” texting, ie, seeming to be attentive but with one hand in their backpacks on the floor, texting other students! And, then, of course, there’s the larger issue of the impact of cell phone use on he ability to relate empathetically to one another. This cannot bode well for the body politic, making what is already a challenge into an impasse with no middle ground. Simple experiences we count on to relate to one another – eye contact, body language – are disappearing. It’s not clear yet what is replacing them.
Soon Jeff was off to work, exercising his skill as a Physician’s Assistant in cardiology at a Mt. Vernon facility. One of his recent emergency patients, who was brought by ambulance to him complaining of chest pain, referred, at one point, to this older man in LaConner who does Zumba as an example of being fit. Jeff was quick to identify him. “Oh, you must mean Bob Skeele. Yes, I have coffee with him every Friday”. It’s, as they say, a small world.
After dropping my fresh muffins off to Ken at the newspaper office and to Marianne and Steve as a way of thanking them for the previous night’s dinner, I headed back to the house to write yesterday’s Journal and listen some more to the music of The Brothers Four . I don’t seem able to get enough of it. Later, my good friend, Judy, joined me, and together we sipped a glass of wine and with that re-discovered music in the background, talked into the evening. She shared with me her slant on the expectations of older women which I took in. She, like Kornelia, is hoping that I’ll keep an open mind and allow the right person to present herself. At about 7:30 PM or so, I thought to become a host and offered Judy some suitable leftovers, my home-made chili and fruit salad . She, happily, enjoyed the dishes as much as I had and was soon on her way home, taking with her the last of my decadent desserts, a frozen Haagen-Das dark chocolate ice cream bar. Yes, I know, not the healthiest of foods.
I’ve started reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford but didn’t get beyond the first chapter on Marty Lee. I like the author’s depiction of father and son, some tension as you would expect between the two, and so believable and makes me want to pick the book up again.
