Suddenly Rings True

I am really fascinated by the aging process, even if the victim is me.  Somebody told me humans age like trees.  I had said one seems to be about 40 for 8 or 10 yrs. and then almost overnight teeth and hair and all age and you are 50 for about 10 yrs., then with a big clank like a rusty chain you’re 60 and so on. Anyway, they tell me trees do this too.  The ring of the age cycle on the trunk shows up the same way — suddenly.
—  Dawn Powell
Letter to Phyllis Cook
Dtd:  14th Mar 1964
From:  “Selected Letters of Dawn Powell“
Found at one of the blogs I follow:  Letters of Note
The specific post is:  I Think One of the Noblest Projects
[Please visit the original site and support it if you are able.     —     kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Approaching Full Bloom
	For All
2022	Dreading The Slide Towards War
2021	Joyous Incompatibility
	My Heart Will Be Waiting (Moondance)
2020	My Gift To You
2019	Two Guarantee Freedom
2018	Less Mouth And More Back
2017	I Ought To Be A Little Careful
2016	Rising From The Ashes
2015	Honor
2014	Disappointment
2013	Seeing Heart
2012	On Success
2011	What This Place Needs Is Another Theory

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I Can’t Decide If I Am Young Or Old

There is no sadder thing than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.
—    Mark Twain
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On This Day In:
2022	Hold That Thought
2021	The Same Goes For Countries And Elected Leaders
	Just Beginning… (Begin The Beguine)
2020	Your True Standard
	But When The Smoke Had Cleared Away… (Sink The Bismarck)
2019	Ooh, Shiny
	Day 4: Surprised
2018	We Are Approaching Default
	Running On History
	Day 37: Blended Not Juiced
2017	Today Is Not Lost
	Day 8
2016	Paying Attention
2015	An Awful Ordeal
2014	What Are You Doing?
2013	Lives > 1
2012	Strange To All The World
2011	Unnecessary Stagefright

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Sometimes Once Can Be Enough

Kids today don’t know how easy they have it.  When I was young, I had to walk 9 feet through shag pile carpet to change the TV channel.
—     Anonymous
I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to.
—     Albert Einstein
I am old but I am forever young at heart.  …  Each year is special and precious, you can only live it once.
—     Richard Gere
[Happy Birthday to me!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Sometimes Once Can Be Enough
2022	The Air Is Thinner, But It’s A Killer View
2021	Staying Young While Getting Old
	Mid-Afternoon (Hopefully) (Fill The World With Love)
2020	Still Measuring (My Next Thirty Years)
2019	Living On The Couch
	Who Am I – One Interpretation
2018	A Gardening Goal: Feed The Flowers
2017	Freakishly Happy Cowboy (The Cowboy In Me)
2016	One More, Please (Life In One Day)
2015	Infinite Adventure
2014	Unpaved
2013	Headstones
2012	Keeping Young
2011	Lessons Well Learned

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The Air Is Thinner, But It’s A Killer View

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
—     Satchel Paige
Getting old is like climbing a mountain;  you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!
—     Ingrid Bergman
[Happy Birthday to me!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Sometimes Once Can Be Enough
2022	The Air Is Thinner, But It’s A Killer View
2021	Staying Young While Getting Old
	Mid-Afternoon (Hopefully) (Fill The World With Love)
2020	Still Measuring (My Next Thirty Years)
2019	Living On The Couch
	Who Am I – One Interpretation
2018	A Gardening Goal: Feed The Flowers
2017	Freakishly Happy Cowboy (The Cowboy In Me)
2016	One More, Please (Life In One Day)
2015	Infinite Adventure
2014	Unpaved
2013	Headstones
2012	Keeping Young
2011	Lessons Well Learned

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Keep Playing

We don’t stop playing because we grow old;  we grow old because we stop playing.
—     George Bernard Shaw
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On This Day In:
2023	Honor, Balance And Beauty
2022	Keep Playing
2021	The False Stereotype
	Extraordinary LOVE (L-O-V-E)
2020	Fate, Agency And Dumb Luck
2019	You Too Can Choose
2018	In Line
2017	Just Get It Right
2016	In Support Of Common Core
2015	Oscillation
2014	Truth Shift
2013	Real Heroes
2012	Controlling The Beast
2011	1,002

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Keep Growing

The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.
—    William James
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On This Day In:
2023	Life’s Great Illusion
2022	3rd (40)
	Might Still Flicker Or Shine
2021	Keep Growing
	I Keep Looking (I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For)
2020	I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Plans
	One Earth
2019	Beautiful Rules
2018	Skepticism
2017	WWGD?
2016	Growing Greatness
2015	When It Is Darkest
2014	Knowledge And Doubt
2013	Three Thoughts
2012	Gentle Reader
2011	Leave The Light On For Me Anyway

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I Don’t Want To Get Any Older…

Getting old is a fascination thing.  The older you get, the older you want to get.
—     Ralph Waldo Emerson
[… I want to live longer just the way I am.  Okay, maybe the way I was twenty years ago – when I had more of my original issue bits and pieces.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	A Caution To The 99% About The Mid-Terms…
2021	Awaiting The Polisher
	With Old Friends (And Family) (Sangria Wine)
	…Before You Leap!
2020	I Don’t Want To Get Any Older…
	Maybe I’ll See You There (Downtown)
2019	Free At Last!
2018	Some Basic Virtues
	Day 17: Fit In 48’s
2017	Too Soon We Part…
	Rigorous And Difficult
2016	Where And Why
2015	The Beauty Of Thy Voice
2014	Faith In Men
2013	An Average Verge
2012	Dew Drop Secrets
2011	Champion Freedom

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Slow Wisdom

Not until just before dawn do people sleep best;  not until people get old do they become wise.
—    Chinese Proverb
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On This Day In:
2022	My Interesting Life
2021	Saving Democracy And A Voting Rights Act
	Just Chillin’ (Breezin’)
2020	Two Hours From Now
	Criminal Incompetence, Criminal Indifference Or Both
2019	Slow Wisdom
	It Is A Start…
2018	Young, Fun And Playing Well
2017	Earning Your Blessings
2016	A Suggestion… (All We Need Is Love)
	Capable Of Being
2015	Looking For The Needles In The Haystacks
2014	The Definition Of A Gentleman
2013	Thar She Blows (Not)!
2012	Naturally
2011	Been Here, Done That
	Remember
2010	Timeless Classics

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Looking Into Golf

Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age.  It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.
—    Franklin Pierce Adams
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On This Day In:
2022	I Resemble That Remark… (9)
2021	Buying Time In A Fixed Game
	Dedicated To: Messrs. Rubio And Pompeo (Waste Deep In The Big Muddy)
2020	What It Takes
	Every Sign Was A Northern Star (Bless The Broken Road)
2019	Stuff Happens
	Whistleblower Complaint Regarding President Trump And Ukraine
2018	Looking Into Golf
	Goin’ Yard
2017	Improvise
2016	Got Leisure?
2015	It’s Been Hurtin’ For Quite A While Now
2014	Curious Talent
2013	Eureka
2012	Slow Me
2011	He Said What?!?
2010	Gritty
	3 and 3
	Just A Hunch
	Wall Street – Movie Review
	2nd Pair – Shoe Review (Aborted and Final)

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Does Smiling Count?

You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.
―    George Bernard Shaw
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On This Day In:
2022	The Path To Sheltered Treasure
2021	Why Do Republicans Seek To Destroy American Democracy?
	Namaste (True Colors)
2020	Michigan Countdown
	Risk Free
2019	Speak Up / Call Out
2018	Does Smiling Count?
2017	Giving Much
2016	Sounds Like Class
2015	Inert Ideas
2014	Worth Anything?
2013	Bruises Before Bed (Or Why You Didn’t Answer)
	Revealed Riches
2012	Extra Gears
2011	Say What?
2010	Hello Frogs…

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I’d Be Happy With Another Score (Or So)

I do not believe in personal immortality;  it seems so unnecessary.  Show me one man who deserves to live forever.
—    Edward Abbey
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On This Day In:
2023	Inviting Dispute
2022	Beautiful Curves
2021	Life Is…
	Thank You Guardians (OTG)* (Come And Get Your Love)
2020	Why #DonTheCon Hates, Belittles And Fires Honest Government Employees
2019	What Do You Want?
2018	Wakanda Forever
	I’d Be Happy With Another Score (Or So)
2017	In Defense Of A Free Press
2016	Lost Opportunity
2015	Are You Listening Ladies?
2014	Practice, Practice, Practice
2013	A Fist Full Of Confusion
2012	Teaching Faith
2011	The Heart Of Terror
	The Proportion Of Gravity And Probability

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Trying To Stay Young

Hardening of the heart ages people more quickly than hardening of the arteries.
—   Michael Hansbury
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On This Day In:
2023	Musical Notes
	It Was A Very Good Year
2022	A Murmuring Note
2021	Satisfied If Not Fulfilled
	You Don’t Know (Whatcha Gonna Do)
	Urban Ballroom
2020	R.I.P. Kobe
2019	Looks A Lot Like #45
2018	Trying To Stay Young
2017	Seems Reasonable To Me
2016	We Can Get Through This Together (In Time)
2015	How Long Is A Piece Of String?
2014	Heathen, n.
2013	Wisdom’s Folly
2012	When The Student Is Ready
	Disconnected Leadership
2011	The Complex Richness Of Life

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Cranky Old Man

What do you see nurses?  What do you see?
What are you thinking when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice the things that you do.
And forever is losing a sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?  Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse.  You’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten, with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another
A young boy of sixteen with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now  a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at twenty my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five, now I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A man of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play ‘round my knee,
Again, we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me.  My wife is now dead.
I look at the future.  I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own.
And I think of the years, and the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles.  Grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass,  A young man still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living life over again.
I think of the years, all too few, gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people.  Open and see.
Not a cranky old man.
Look closer …  See …  Me.
[Another of those wonderful poems and inspirational words which end up making it to the internet and touching thousands of people.  I found this on a blog I follow maintained by David Kanigan:  Lead.Learn.Live
http://davidkanigan.com/2012/08/19/cranky-old-man/
If you have a chance, please visit David’s site and thank him for sharing this with us…     —     kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Brilliantly Disguised
2021	Dreaming Of You
	Sweet Memories (Sweet Caroline)
2020	He Ought To Be Unemployed
	May I Have A Little More, Please (All We Need Is Love)
2019	Cash Only, Please
	Day 14: End Of Week 2
2018	House To Home
2017	Got Education?
2016	Necessary Company
2015	Reality Vs Imagination
2014	Penalty Period
2013	Theft
2012	Cranky Old Man
2011	A Man’s Got To Know His Limitations

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Just Long Enough

Getting older is no problem.  You just have to live long enough.
—    Groucho Marx
[Please God, let me!!     —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Back To First Principles
2021	Full Value Division
	EWF On Ice (I Like The Way You Move)
	Strung Along
2020	The Responsibility Side Is On The Right
	Where Clear Winds Blow (Up Where We Belong)
2019	Define Your Life…
2018	It Is No Secret
	Day 25: When 4 or 5 equals 2
2017	Cowardly Defamation
2016	With No Allowance For Chance?
2015	Details
2014	Here’s One…
2013	Non-Fungible Commodities
2012	Hope And Tears
2011	Just Long Enough
	Meaningful Thoughts

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