An Old Man’s Look Back at Life
What was it all about?
On March 1, 2024, I turned 76 years old. I’ve passed the 3/4 of a century mark and it’s quite scary. Usually, people who have reached my age, or older, write about how blessed their life was and offer advice on how to live a long life. I am going to look back at those 76 years a bit differently.
I was born the youngest of three boys. Unfortunately, I was born with severe asthma, which resulted in spending much of my childhood struggling to breathe. I can remember spending several holidays in the hospital, while my siblings waited at home to celebrate.
I can remember my poor mother having to drive 70 miles to Syracuse, the nearest large city to my home town for my appointments with an asthma specialist. In the winter we had to take the Greyhound bus because the 70-mile stretch of road was directly in the middle of the treacherous snow belt in Central New York.
Back then there were no laws against smoking on public transport. I can still vividly remember sitting near some asshole smoking a cigar, causing me great discomfort. He refused my mother’s pleas to refrain from smoking and of course, the bus driver couldn’t do anything about it.
Thank God my father belonged to a union that offered great healthcare benefits, because I had to see my regular doctor…
