What, Me Worry?

Are you a 'worrier'? (Say that seven (7) times, (NO, not that, 'worrier'!)). I am, despite the view of the water I have every morning (Photo is this morning), while I have my coffee, my 1/2 toasted bagel, and glazed marble cake, as my PRE-breakfast (And I wonder why I can't lose weight!!) and have been since being a kid. (No, not the weight worry, see another worry, no, a 'worrier'). We all, probably, have common worries - taking tests in school, something will happen to our lost dog, losing a job, car doesn't run, not prepared for a meeting, and its in 5 minutes, every conceivable circumstance regarding any, and all kids you may have, ..etc. you know, those kinds of things. And, two biggest worries I had were:

1) A burglar would break into our home in Flushing, Queens, New York, and would chase me around the outside of the house, after I tried to sneak a knife out of the kitchen drawer. (This started as a dream, dreamt it for, literally, years, then it turned into a worry) NEVER HAPPENED !!

2) My father would come to the school (P.S. 163) fence, and tell me my Mom had died. (This also started out as a dream, and also, turned into a conscious daytime worry). I treated my Mom sooo.. nice each day, reading to her from the Long Island Press while she made supper, so afraid I was going to lose her. NEVER HAPPENED. My Dad died when I was a young man, and Mom lived into her 90s. And yes, I still treated her nice - she WAS nice, and I'M nice..

The symptoms of worry are anxiety, something to do with serotonin, defiency or excess - different symptons, different medical/philosophical, life-style approaches, yet I do not exhibit anxiety. Yes, if we're gone overnight, I worry about water leaks - until I forget to worry - (I used to worry about gas leaks, but our condo is all-electric - good - one less thing to worry about) and I worry, or do I become anxious when going on a trip, but I think most people are like that, Are YOU? Please agree!!

I worry about the health of family members, to varying degrees, mostly, what I'm aware of. Might explain why I don't want to know about my family's health problems beyond the members in my household. And I don't worry at all about the health, or ANY problems of NON-family. Do YOU? If so why? and if you have a good reason, like as fellow human beings, we're supposed to, and does it make me not a nice person if I don't? I mean, come on, there's BILLIONS of people living on this earth, and what about those that USED to live here, at least, let's limit it to my lifetime. And what about those who come after me? Do YOU worry for them, will that relieve them of their own worries? I don't worry for them - they're on their own, ESPECIALLY after I'm gone. I guess by now, you know I'm not concerned about e.g. global warming and it's consequences in 2090 ..If I AM alive then, I'll be 152 years old - what will I worry about THEN . Will YOU worry if and when you're 152 plus?? Nah, I don't think so...

Surprisingly, MOST things we worry about never happen. (Conversely, what we DON'T worry about smacks us in the face at times - "Sorry you just moved to the SUNSHINE STATE - stay out of the sun, you have Melanoma (skin cancer)" or, how about "What, you LOVE music?? Always have, but now you're retired, so you have the time to enjoy it? Here's TINNITUS in BOTH your ears, and out of harmony". (Who am I quoting? Doctors, Creators, whoever, obviously someone with a sense of humor, a BIG sense of humor - like Beethoven going DEAF!! )

And, my final point - if life IS humorous, one of my favorite topics, if it is, and, as my banner up on top says, 'Life is it's own signifance', try not to stress, try, and succeed with that most wonderful gift - the mind - to experience, enjoy, and be entertained, by this adventure we call LIFE. OR, am I being too simplistic? Although I'm quite cognizant of the endless complexities and complications of seemingly every facet of our lives, every issue facing our society...I don't know, maybe I don't want to know....

Strangers

Lincoln Place, Miami Beach on right good-looking strangers, buying? looking? stealing? And lady behind them thinking: "Was I ever that young, with a shape like that? Do YOU think she was, (of course, young once, unless an 'imported' being) and do you think this way at times: "Will I be old like that, will I need a cane, could I have run like that once, could I eat that much pizza etc. etc. etc.

Harvard Square, Boston (technically, Cambridge) and a photo of a family member, and also including a total stranger - the man whose face we're looking at - who will now be a part of 'our history'. But, that's not what this is about - it IS about the people we see, in our photos, like this, or in the mall, or on TV, you get the idea. With no idea who this person is, obviously certain assumptions can be made: he walks, he can get to 'here' from 'wherever', he is (hopefully) of our species, i.e. human, born of parents, has vision problems, (or wears glasses to look 'intellectual' - this is HARVARD after all)), so has to have a source of income in order to have obtained the glasses, he has hair (or a good hair piece), likes, again, fashionably popular, longer sideburns, is not a sun worshipper, wears 'regular' shirts. Now that may seem like a lot of info on a stranger, but of course we know it isn't - we really know nothing.

Since I have time to do so, I 'guess' about people I see - give them whole lives. Sometimes I've even asked a question of a stranger, framed as e.g. "You look like someone a friend of mine worked with as a systems analyst on Wall St many years ago." And, it may surprise you as to how much the 'stranger' will tell you: profession, employer, where resides, how long, a visit to e.g. Wall St (whether or not a native New Yorker - MOST New Yorkers have never been to Wall St - (source: GENE'S WORLD instant observation)). Maybe even volunteer 'sneaking' a kid (tells family status) under a subway turnstile (hard to do now with so much security) (tells you ethics? or practicality? (or nothing, 'cause you think about it?)).

Have you done these things - do you have these thoughts - have you ever been approached by a 'inquirer' (different from being 'hit on')???

Billions of strangers - plenty of speculation to engage in (unless of course you have other, REAL responsibilities to accomplish, unlike, e.g. me) (Not true, I DO have responsibilities: (thought I was going to list them?? Why would I open myself to .....??)

Are YOU interested in these 'strangers' who populate 'your ' world? If so, why? Curiosity about the 'human condition'? or just nosiness or both? Or, if not, why not? Lack of curiosity re: fellow earthlings? Just don't have time? Just don't care?" And, if don't, why, where, what??? (Endless......... just like LIFE's questions, right?)

Enjoy Life..maybe we're just entertainers on "SOMEONE's" stage, (and we want to be kept around to continue to entertain , don't we?)

Senior Life

This one is at Carrabba's Italian Grill. I don't go to these free lunches normally, but my doctor was speaking at a Humana Medicare sales pitch. Good bread to dip in Olive oil, pasta with chicken marsala - delicious even after waiting nearly 1 1/2 hours 'listening' (I have tinnitus, so

really don't hear much in a quiet setting )- you can imagine what I heard with dishes rattling, staff talking, 30 seniors coughing, making 'old' noises, and one guy in a booth about 20 feet from me talking LOUD all thru my doctor's spiel - and she's a low-talker, like in that Seinfeld episode with the puffy shirt. Anyway, this guy is so loud, he's disturbing others, a few of whom tell him to shut-up - seniors can be tough. But the guy not only drowns out the good doctor, he wins the prize given away by Humana as a thanks for coming. Those irritated by his 'noise' muttered when he got the prize - I didn't mind - I wouldn't have heard my doctor anyway.

And, being me, I parked over 1/2 mile away so I'd walk off part of that delicious meal.

I don't really mind getting older until I am in a group of other 'getting older' folk. Then I look around and think, maybe even say out loud ( who knows - I don't hear good, remember?),

"This is what's ahead?" "Oy Vey"

The first photo has nothing to do with Carrabba's - just your Mom serving us at Disneyland.

The second photo also has nothing to do with Carrabba's, but remembering food reminds me of that deeeelicious food at Caddy's in Plymouth Mass.

It's Been Awhile

If the passage of time is 'enjoyable', is a 'quality' life being experienced?

Who, but YOU, can answer. And, can you answer.

Time is of essence - time is not fast, or slow: it is time. My sense of time is inconsequential

to reality, yet, it IS reality, to me.

As I watch the beautiful, ever-changing Gulf of Mexico waters wash ashore, the realization impresses with every wave, this would be happening regardless of my observation. Duh!

What profundity! And yet.... that realization is, to me, one of life's many philosophical keys.

How can I view my life, or it's experiences, or my observations, without the sense of limitation,

and is limitation necessarily 'limiting'? Of course not. Part of the enjoyment, maybe, 'all' of the

enjoyment, and fulfillment, and satisfaction of my experiences is the acknowledgement of limitations: I will not 'grow up' to be a brain surgeon; I will not be President of the U.S. - nor would I want to be; I can not coast up a hill, on my bike, or in my responsibilities to myself, and those to whom I have responsibilities - sometimes my choice - most of the time - and sometimes simply a given.

Some of the books I've been reading lately, "the History of Love" recommended by my youngest daughter, (and Thanks), the "Odd Thomas" series by Dean Koontz, a couple by NY writer Vincent Patrick, have all confirmed, and validated to me, my embrace of HUMOR,

my acceptance of a 'greater force', be it the God I was taught as a child, whether 'he', 'she',

'they', (maybe even - I hope not) 'it'.

Each morning, with some exceptions (I am HUMAN), I say, as the local CBS TV outlet here

in Tampa Bay says of the area, "Enjoy It..We Do", followed by a mental, emotional goal in dealing with the vicissitudes, obstacles, opportunities, etc. life presents to us: "It's Entertainment".

Does it always work? Of course not: life is too serious to be taken so lightly.

(Just JOKING - if I really meant it, my entire preface, the whole premise of this homily would have been negated, or maybe.......)

Enjoy It I Do!......It's Entertainment!!