I just finished doing six gigs in a row, something I've not been able to do since January 2020, when I had congestive heart failure at the ripe old age of pert near 56. Prior to that, it was not uncommon for me to play 10 gigs or more a week. My vocal cords, diaphragm and puckering muscles,(1), were in fantastic shape from singing 12 hours a day. The rest of me wasn't responding well to the extreme Keys lifestyle and teenagers diet, hence the CHF and resulting deep vein thrombosis. Fun words kids, but you want to avoid experiencing what they mean. Embrace moderation. I never tried until it was too late.
Four and a half, no salt, no fat, no sugar, no alcohol, no more fun of any kind, years later...and I seem to be alright. Although I'm having to cut back on the amount of marijuana I like to smoke because my voice seems to be negatively impacted lately. No big deal compared to quitting tobacco which I have been tobacco free since 2017, despite going through Irma which could make anybody backslide under the uncertainties of recovery from such an event.
I'm particularly fortunate to have worked six days in a row during the slowest time of the year when a lot of the establishments close for a few weeks, some of them for a month. I've had small but enthusiastic audiences to play for, and bless their kind hearts for the tips and atta boys. Some people even remark how healthy I look and my reply to that is always, "It's amazing what the sun can do for a body."
I've had 12 sessions of physical therapy so that I can get a lidocaine shot or shots to help with the arthritis in my neck and lower spine. Sounds good to me. It's in the Caine family like Nova and Coke. And if that works they may even ablate the nerves that are the source of the pain. The next issue is bradycardia, slow heart beat. At least my chances of dying in my sleep are higher than average which doesn't seem like a bad way to go. So I got that going for me...
I get asked, "How are you feeling?" My usual reply is "With my hands." An old joke from my dad's era, some of you might remember it from the Three Stooges. Honestly, I feel beat up and fading. But I figure that's how I'm supposed to feel at this stage in my life. Getting old ain't for wimps or wussies.
Some days are better than other days and the better days are becoming fewer with each passing year. Why worry about how you feel, just enjoy every moment that you have now despite how you feel, because one day soon enough, you'll feel a lot fucking worse and that's just the way getting older is. Getting old is supposed to suck so that when it's time for you to leave this existence you will want to go.
Time works against the living and stops for the dead. The older you get, the fewer friends will be available to attend your funeral. My mom was the last of her friends at the age of 98 when she passed from congestive heart failure. She lived a lot healthier lifestyle than myself. Her brain was going anyway so... In a way it was a reprieve for my brother and his wife who had been taking care of her. You never know what's going to get you in the end, another reason to enjoy now.
I get aggravated with myself for being aggravated. When my neighborhood is flooded by saltwater, for example, and it takes me an extra 10 to 20 minutes to get to where I'm going, I try to remind myself that at least I'm not being shot at, I'm not starving to death, at least I have an air conditioned vehicle to creep through the stink ass saltwater, that I have to spend another 20 minutes rinsing off the undercarriage when I get home... And if you've ever been around while I'm setting up or tearing down my band equipment... You might be inclined to call an exorcist...
I remind myself that I'm living in Paradise, I do a job a lot of people only dream of doing, I love the sun and the hot weather suits my ailments. For the most part, I have enjoyed my time here on planet Earth, especially Key Largo. At least I didn't waste my life working for the Man doing something I didn't want to do, for the most part.
That whole work and then retire thing, is backwards. You give your best years to a company and hope that you get to retire one day and travel and do all these things. The problem is, by the time you retire, your body is usually used up. Traveling is painful for older people. A lot of things that you wanted to try are out of the question now because you're too fucking old. What a rip off.
Live life while you're young and flexible, use your best years for yourself. Then when your body has given out, gets stiff everywhere but where you want it to and can't have any fun, that's the time to get a job, that's when you're going to need the health benefits. Start working at 60 and retire at 80. You won't mind being stuck at work on a beautiful day because you'll be too old to get out and enjoy it anyway. And being old is misery so you might as well be miserable at work. And at that age you got a good chance of dropping dead on the job and getting off early. At least you'll have the memories from your youth to bring the occasional smile to your face while you give away the worst years of your life to the company. ☮️❤️😊🎶👣🖖
(1) Real singers are willing to crap themselves to hit the high note on pitch, that's where strong clenching muscles come in handy, but accidents do happen...
If it were easy as fishin', you could be a musician...
People see you having fun, just a-lying in the sun
Tell them that you like it this way
It's the work that we avoid and we're all self-employed
We love to work at nothing all day -Bachman Turner Overdrive
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