A long life

I used to want to live a long life but to live when all of your  friends and peers are gone is no bargain. As my parents circle grows narrower each year I recall my grandmothers last years. Slowly the friends stopped calling as they were gone and the world narrowed. Going earlier at least some of your friends are there to memorialize you and talk about you from another perspective.

I think about my own life and how little my daughter knows because it only comes up in passing. She just found out what my middle initial stands for. My daughter will remember shared moments that will be priceless. Yet in many ways she knows little about me other than fleeting references to my summers in the mountain with Rusty the wonder dog who adored children and my time in VT. Her favorite story was when a crowd in Vermont talked me into wrestling at Franklin County Field days. I think the misadventures  of my friend Saul the ethically challenged pothead are up there. How I changed a thoroughly despicable friend into an icon of comedy is unknown. Yet the substance is largely true.

I still want my bones to rest in Guyana among my beloved adopted people in the forest.

Being a father and grandfather has been the best part of a full life. However, to see the world shrink is a pain worse than going and being just a foot note. I wonder if these words will read 200 years from now and viewed as the progression or retrogression in an ordinary life. In many ways this blog is a diary. How it is read is up to the reader.

I love my daughter, but will she even call me when I am doting along in plaid shorts about days past. I love the Maltese, but will likely outlive him. His heart is truly a wonder. I retreated to a strange part of the house to get some sleep. I woke up and he was cuddled next to me. He is the best friend a man ever had and I am lucky to have him in my life. I wanted a more functional dog and didn't play with him as a puppy. One day he was all over me playing and we are inseparable. Even his buddy Prince used to fight to spend time with me.

The new Pomeranian hates me and I don't put up with much. He growls and I ignore him until I am annoyed
then I assert my dominance by walking where I want. Usually the girlfriend gets involved and rescues him
and puts him in the corner. He has tried the cute bit but I walk away. I am not fooled by this act and spend my time with the Maltese.