The OFs are not much on resolutions — never kept any anyway
Another Old Men of the Mountain breakfast and again, the scribe was unable to attend. The first problem involved a painful shoulder, but a shot took care of this pain almost immediately. The second non-attended breakfast involved a bout with COVID (again).
The first time with the disease left this scribe battling blood clots on the lungs. Still trying to get rid of these clots and along comes another stretch with this disease.
This scribe is currently typing this while just finishing the 10-day quarantine and, except for feeling weak, feels pretty good, although tires easily. This scribe is fully boosted, and wears a mask almost religiously. Hmmm! Can one be almost religious?
The Old Men of the Mountain meet whether this OF is there or not; this time it was at the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, and thank goodness there are OFs who take attendance and supply a few notes.
This lets this scribe compose some sort of report on the OMOTM by using this information and a few selected old notes not used in other columns. This information and the names help keep bill collectors and truant officers away from the OFs at the current breakfast.
At the ages of most of the OMOTM, the blending of the years seems to just melt from one to the other with not much fanfare. The OFs are not much on resolutions; to the OFs, resolutions don’t seem to mean much and most gave up on them years ago. Never kept any anyway.
One OF mentioned that, to keep a resolution, if that is what you want to call it, takes more than one person; it takes at least two, maybe more, to keep the resolvee on the resolve. This makes sense.
One OF said, “When it comes time, years don’t seem to mean much; 2019 is no different than 2022. Even the news is the same, only the names are different.”
Another OF commented that one thing that does change is it gets easier to count friends and relatives because the number is lower. This OF was echoed by another OG who uttered, when it comes to gathering, it used to be weddings and births, now it is hospitals and funerals. What a cheery group that breakfast was.
What matters in life?
The OMOTM quite often speak about family and how important that is.
Some OFs say their family is spread all over the country, and a couple said their families are not only spread over this country but the world. Japan and Germany were mentioned as they used to draw people in the military and in some cases still do; now though it is jobs.
As the OFs age, to have family close by helps. None of the OFs want to go to the “home.” This is where family really helps.
One OF said the old saw about treating your kids right in the beginning is a good idea because they are the ones who are going to select the home they are going to pack the OF off too.
Another OF mentioned how they took care of their elderly parents, and now they are the elderly parents, and still have maintained the lifestyle that they are yet to be a burden to the kids.
Still another OF said his kids were such a PIA that he couldn’t wait to be a burden to them.
This little old-fashioned and long-held statement about kids being a pain this scribe thinks is just talk — the OFs should think about what kind of PIA they were to their parents.
One OF said that the big old farmhouses were meant for multiple families, and the old folks, including in many cases aunts and uncles, all lived and died in the same place and many were buried in family plots right there on the farm.
An OF took his crooked finger and waved it in the air and said we all strive to get old. The OF said we are preached to, to not smoke, and eat well, get plenty of exercise, and don’t drink all that stuff so we can live longer.
Well, I am here to tell you getting old ain’t fun. For what? So you can live in pain, can’t dress yourself; heck, if I knew then what I know now, the motto would be, “Hey, live life to the fullest, be happy, die young, and skip all this old-age crap.” (There ya go!)
Blizzard
The storm that hammered Buffalo was really bad; however, the OF mentioned our own blizzard on the Hill that hit us in the fifties. Just like the Buffalo storm, it was very local. You could drive a few miles and there was nothing.
“There was a big difference in this one,” an OF said. “Our storm affected few people but Buffalo is the state’s second largest city. That is a lot of people impacted by this weather.”
It seems no matter where the OFs run to, sooner or later a natural disaster of some sort is going to catch up with the OF.
The OFs made some comments on life as it is as they trotted to the Middleburgh Diner in Middleburgh, and the members of this happy group were: Miner Stevens, Jake Herzog, Roger Shafer, Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Jack Norray, Lou Schenck, Herb Bahrmann, Paul Nelson, Roland Tozer, Warren Willsey, Russ Pokorny, but not me.