Facing 80

I am now a denizen of the Land of Daily Medical Treatments.

I know my pharmacist better than the neighbors who live on either side of me at my condo building.

Last week’s smile inducer was discovering there’s a 24 hour/ 7 day pharmacy just five minutes from my place. On the Sunny Side. Paying the bridge tariff for the comfort of knowing it’s there just in case is but a slight nuisance.

In a couple of days, I’ll be an octo-.

Seems like yesterday that it took me an hour staring at the phone to get up the courage to call and ask Jenni Lehman to a hay ride in the 9th grade.

Time, whatever that really is, accelerates.

My pal Michael in New Orleans had a rule he invoked at our annual dinners during JazzFest at Galatoire, Mosca’s, Peche, GW Fins or wherever.

One medical conversation per meal. Read the rest of this entry »

Drinking a Mounds Bar: Coping With Today

First in a series of musings about life changes big and small our new reality has wrought. 

Fashioning a drink that tastes like a candy bar was not something I’d considered when this whole staying at home thing was covid-forced upon us.

And I’ll get to how I came to a satisfying if strange concoction of sorts soon enough.

Getting there is somewhat serpentine. My default way.

Being a fellow with daily rituals, long held habitual behavior, and someone fairly comfortable with my own company, coping with our new reality has likely been less onerous for me than most.

Which isn’t to say, I’d love do lunch, head to the moviehouse and the ballpark, and, you know, interact up close and personal with other human beings.

Anyway, like most, I’ve developed some new methods of coping with the required insular lifestyle this pandemic has caused. Read the rest of this entry »