The Decrepitude of Aging

Oy, I'm old. I was blessed last night with only TWO nocturnal trips to the bathroom to pee. When I walk I hear creaking, and look to our floor, but it's travertine marble and doesn't make any sounds. Each time I get up from the couch I hear a unique grunt that I only heard come from my father... Nah! It's not so bad, except for the peeing during the night part. Wifey and I talked this am, about our meeting when I was only 22, and already an old soul. Today I'm 55. The years have just caught up with the soul... My mother, with only herself to take care of in her later years, would occasionally proclaim, to our humor, that "today is a day JUST for me." I decided to follow her advice on this day. I got up at 7, and headed to LOL for a classic bagel and nova with Norman, even though he went all fancy and diverse and tried (and liked) the meatball omelette. I fielded a few calls from my brothers of other mothers, and emails from sisters of other misters... I was going to head to the office, but realized I would thereby be making two trips Downtown, and I didn't need Miami traffic to dampen my spirit. So I hung about. Wifey took the dogs to the vet, and stopped AGAIN at LOL, and brought us a delicious tuna on toasted rye sandwich to share. We shared, as a NY Strip awaits tonight at the Palm. D2 called as she walked to work and sang Happy Birthday for me. D1 called and hummed the guitar riff from the Beatles' "Birthday." My Ds are so multi talented. Those talents don't include good singing voices. But hearing them was sweeter to me than any James Taylor ballad. And I really, really dig James Taylor's singing voice... Now Wifey's back, and the skies have opened up. I love to watch thunderstorms -- and Miami has the best ones. They're so powerful and dramatic. I used to sit outside our door in Building 22, Apartment Z, and watch them in college. Now I have a bigger crash pad. The storms are still awesome. So I give thanks, to the Big Man, and ask only for greater wisdom as the years go by. Paul sent me a terrific text: "Some may say 55 and still alive. I say 55-65, a time to savor the amazing life you have created." He's right. Dr. Barry's birthday is Sunday, and Dr. Eric has planned for us all to meet Friday night in Lauderdale -- at Anthony's Runway 84. So much for calorie counting this week... It would seem downright ungrateful to NOT take from this cornucopia horn. Happy birthday to me. May there be, as there will be, just the right amount of returns...