The other day on our beach walk, at the edge of the surf, Denise turned to me and seriously asked ‘will you recognize me in Heaven’? Wow, she was contemplating some heavy and deep stuff. That is quite the philosophical quandary to drop on a guy just out of the blue. Me, of course my thoughts were on wondering if the guy ahead of us fishing from shore caught anything today. Well that is not quite the same level as her ‘purpose of life’ thinking but fishing is important to some folks also, isn’t it? So trying to buy time to come up with an equally personal and deep response I asked, ‘huh, what did you say? ….Oh, ya, sure I will. If I ever make it there.’ Hey, I never said I was a philosopher! What’s a guy to say?

Heaven? Seems like a good segue into this next item. Some of you know by now that I have picked up a new hobby, a meditative practice. I began making ‘knotted’ rosarys. For you heathens, the Rosary refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church and some other Christian churches, and to the physical string of knots or beads used to count the component prayers. I make the ‘prayer beads’ used when saying the prayer/meditation. I make them and then give them away to people with the hopes that they may help encourage an individuals spiritual growth or meditative practices. I have made and distributed well over 100 rosaries. Do you know anyone who could use a rosary? Just let me know. They are completely free. For me, sitting on the balcony in the warm air with a nice peaty dram of scotch or pint of Guinness and making a rosary is a great time of quiet meditation. Silence is golden?

Ah ha! Another segue? Silence! For about 40 +/- years I have never had a single moment of silence. Since time in the Army I have had a bad case of Tinnitus, ‘the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present’ – or at least they say. Perception? I think they just don’t know how to fix it or what to do so they say it is in your head. For decades I have continuously played music. I eventually found out that they say having a sound in the background helps distract the mind from the noise/buzzing/ringing. Some people that have tinnitus can not even go to sleep without the TV, radio, or a fan running nearby to distract from the noise in their ears/heads. When it is real bad it can cause serious health problems mostly due to lack of rest, severe depression, and even suicide – JUST TO STOP THE NOISE! Well mine has been getting progressively worse so I decided it was time for a re-evaluation at the VA. New imaging showed that I had such a big brain that it was pushing on my ear canals….lol.

Actually, my hearing tests confirmed the hearing loss we knew I had. The hearing loss has gotten slightly worse but OK though for the tinnitus there is no real answer. The specialist did suggest trying hearing aids. They offered them to me before for my hearing loss but I declined out of both vanity and they were a pain when I tried them for a couple weeks and I don’t think the hearing loss is that bad. I told the doctor that I hear adequately but I just need the damn noise to stop once in a while. She asked some more questions about the noise and how I currently deal with it and then said that in the study groups that she works with some of the Vets have found tinnitus relief when using hearing aids. The rational seems to be that the aids present something else in the ear that the brain focuses on vs the noise distracting the brain. Almost like having my own portable ‘white noise’ system. Well I bit the vanity bullet and am trying a new different set of hearing aids. So far what i have noticed is that I never knew the turn signal in the car actually did make a clicking noise (hearing) and I think I am annoyed a little less by the tinnitus noise or at least my brain is focusing on it less. I am on a 3 month trial so we will see what happens in the long run. I guess I can accept thinking that I look older due to a hearing aid vs going crazy with my own internal bells/crickets ringing-chirping continuously. Yes, silence is golden!

Now on to my final topic since I ran out of segues. What the heck have Denise and I been doing for the last couple of years? Well number one has been focusing on staying healthy. Knock on wood…but we can not recall the last time either of us had been sick in well over 10+ years. We do get the occasional allergies but no illness. I guess we have been doing something right. We believe being in Panama and the Free State of Florida made a big difference. The sunshine helped and with covid we did not stay locked down, we were out with people, exercising, partying, and living our lives. We have also now been eating plant-based for over 4 years with the occasional mahi-mahi or grouper tacos. There is an effort and price to good health!

So how do we keep busy? From before 2020 (covid) and until today we have been doing numerous activities. Some of our activities were/are going to yoga 2-4 times a week. We finally quit yoga when I realized that the continuous pain in my back (another Army injury) was being aggravated by doing yoga. Also they got a new instructor that was getting all mystical and chanting about things. We were there for the stretching and exercise and were on guard against these eastern semi-religious practices so it was a good reason to stop. My back has thanked me.

Except for the 2-3 months they tried to close the beaches in Palm Beach County we continued going to the beach 3-5 times a week. Grounding in nature is a great health benefit. When they closed our beaches and Tiki Bars (bunch of fascists!), we would go north to Martin County (30+ minutes) where they were open for business. We continued going to the pool to kick around in the water and lay in the sun about 5 days a week except for the 5 or so months everyone was under the covid craze. Same for the Gym.

Another big thing we continue to do except for a short couple months break is play sand volleyball. We had a big group of people who would come out. We were playing 2-4 times a week. Denise and I were considered the senior players as most of the others are in their 30-40s. Currently Denise and I are down to 1-2 times a week as it is kick-butt strenuous exercise and I need recovery time. Those youngsters can play 3-5 times a week and they pretend it doesn’t phase them.

Denise has found it difficult to get time for her mosaic art but she seems to find a way. Over the last two years I spent time learning to program in Python and learning Linux. I am Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Big Tech free. I wish I would had learned and converted to Linux a long time ago. I have also started back into a few Knights of Columbus activities.

We are also anxious to get back out on a travel adventure. Our short list of next trips are Italy as well as maybe southern France and maybe back to Santorini and Crete. We also want to take a jaunt down to Cartagena, Colombia and Mexico. In the mean time we had a couple great excursions to Key West where we stayed at the Naval Air Station. We also met up with Ann Marie and Carl as well as Arlene and Dean when they left the artic and spent some time in the Free State of Florida. We also have been to The Villages a number of times to visit. We drove up to Virginia for a wedding of one of Denise’s nephews. At the wedding we were able to visit with Katie, Sean, Lisa, Wes (um Wes, … Lisa’s multi-year long distance boyfriend. Wes is a great guy who has proven he can take some good natured ribbing) and visited a few folks along the way including Robbie and Jennifer in Jacksonville and stayed a few days at St Augustine. We recommend a stop in St, Augies if you can work it out. This Christmas we flew to Boise, Idaho and stayed with Katherine and Sean. It was great. They have a nice new wonderful home but it was COLD! Of course most of the USA was under a freeze during that time. We had lots of fun and got to see our first ice hockey game! We couldn’t remember the last time we ever saw snow!

In summary. we have been living our life day to day, week to week, staying healthy and having fun. I think this is what we were meant to do. We do not know how long we will live but we want to be healthy until the time comes. We want to come sliding in through the pearly gates on our knees, maybe a little bruised with torn jammers and busted flip flops, but with a big smile knowing we finally made it!

As always, feel free to share or send a comment or question or hide from your children.