Belief, Reality, and Perspective: Weapons Against Father Time

My uncle celebrated his 90th birthday on Saturday.  Ninety years on this planet is a heck of a milestone.  We gathered at the local American Legion, in Medfield,  to celebrate, and to recognize Uncle Tony for his 90 years of giving to others.  Governor Patrick proclaimed the day in my uncles honor, as did his hometown, and the legislature passed a resolution marking his day as well. The recognition was so well deserved.  A lot of recognition for a quiet man that loves to smile, live life, and family.

Before all the official recognition had begun, it was the more intimate form of recognition that I was having issues with.  Relatives I have not seen in 35 years were there, and although we were all fairly close as kids, I barely recognized them now.  I did manage to connect the faces with the names from my past after a lot of uncomfortable staring.  Recognizing their children was impossible.

I scanned the hall, and attempted to identify the faces that hung under the graying, and gray hair.  I saw cousins wearing sweaters, and Dockers with their belts hiked up to their nipple line.  It seemed that it was just  few months ago that jeans, and a work shirt would have once been the ensemble of the day.  One thing didn't change, they still drank their Bud from the bottle.  Somethings are just instinctual.

The hair was more dyed, gray, and sparse;  the faces showed thirty five years of added character.  The changes, hardly noticeable when seen over the years on a more frequent basis, only announced that not only was Uncle Tony older, but the celebrants were that much older, too.

A damn lot older.

Cripes, we all had become that sixty year old we used to think was synonymous with  the end of life when we were twenty-five.

How the hell  did this happen?  Just a few months ago it was 1982, and I was singing along to Survivor's  "Eye of the Tiger", and now I was standing in the middle of an American Legion Hall with a bunch of old people that insisted they were my cousins.

The realization that one is not only getting older, but is old, doesn't just come with ones first invitation to join AARP at fifty, it comes all along the the way, too.  All those little bothers like getting out of the car a little slower, popping a couple of Aleve after spending the morning working in the yard,  changing glasses in order to read a text on the phone, and then changing them again when you want to go back to watching Jimmy Fallon, tell us that something is up.  If we accept things as just life, we'll do fine, but if we write off every wrinkle, ache, set of lost car keys, forgotten items at the store, missing hairs, teeth, as being old, then we will be old.

The mind is a neat thing, if you tell it something that you believe in, it responds in kind.  Acting ones age is not always the best advice, being how one feels is far better.

I'm not old.  I am aging, though.    I'm younger than Uncle Tony, but I'm not young, either.  This is my reality, and it is essential in moving forward without getting all hung up on what I used to do better than I do now.  I listen to Top 40, and always have.  I work with people less than half my age, and enjoy it a lot.  I still wear jeans.

What's in my mind is so much younger than what's in my mirror.

Staying young has little to do with the date on the calendar, but everything to do with what is on your mind.  If you choose to live old, chances are you will be, but if you choose to age, like wine, then you will most definitely become better than you are now.

I want to live to be 90 like my Uncle Tony, and I am working on being fifty when I get there.

Rail Initiative Meeting 11/19 At Union Station

For those interested in learning more about rail service options, and improvements, and how it could affect us locally.  This would be a great place to learn if it was possible for a train station that would be accessible for Sturbridge residents.

Questions?  

Jill Barrett

Senior Project Manager

FHI | Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc.
Innovative Planning, Better Communities
416 Asylum Street, Hartford, CT 06103
Main: 860-247-7200 | Direct: 860-570-0740 | Mobile: 860-539-2038

About Those River Lands...

I was wondering what ever happened with the River Lands the Town of Sturbridge purchased a few years ago to extend the Grand Trunk Trail along the Quinebaug River.  Last I knew the BOS had stopped work on the trail until the toxins found on the property were remediated.

Last time I wrote on this subject was last January, and I haven't heard, or read a word about the lands status until this morning.

This morning I learned that no actual remediation is needed, but only a recording, and delineation of the area not to disturb.  I'm told that the area is about two acres.  The order from the Sturbridge Board of Selectmen not to do anything on ALL the acreage still stands, after all this time.  It is time to move on, ad get the trail completed.

So, let me put it out there to the Sturbridge BOS.  What is the status of the River Lands, and when can we expect work to begin on completing the Grand Trunk Trail?

A Serious Sunday Morning Thought

This is important.

Ebola is only spread by contact with infected body fluids, infected needles, and syringes, Fruit Bats, and primates.

That's it.

The medical teams in the U.S. that are caring for those infected clinicians returning from West Africa are not required to be quarantined for 21 days after caring for those infected persons, however if that same team cared for that infected person 7000 miles to the east, in, let's say Sierra Leone, and returned to the U.S. they would be subject to quarantine for 21 days.

Why?  What is the difference?  Care is care, right?

No.  Apparently it is not in the eyes of some state governments. Some states have made it clear that the care given over there is not quite as good for the caregiver as it would be if had been performed over here.

Dallas proved otherwise.

In Dallas we proved that we can offer the same "here's a band aid, and a prayer" therapy, that many world governments have extended to third world countries for generations,  to our own people inside of America.

We were caught with our isolation gowns down, and were too proud to admit that we had no clue as how to proceed.  We thought our big modern hospitals with their modern isolation rooms, and trained staff would be immune from Ebola hurting our own.  We could have done way better.  Nebraska proved that.

I admire the nurse from Maine that was quarantined in a tent in a parking lot with a bucket toilet for three days.  After returning from Africa, where she cared for those stricken with Ebola,  she said  the right things, in the right way in order to put the attention on a system that was not up to speed, poorly thought out, and based on fear, not science.

This isn't over.  There will many more health care workers exposed to the disease.

Fear is a natural component, but only knowledge, training,  and proper equipment are what matters.  Given to the right people they are the only things that can stop the outbreak.

Just When I Thought I Was All Set

Just when I thought I had a good system going, I find out that I don't.

Charter Cable recently went all digital.  What that means to folks like us is the TV's we have in our house that did not require a cable box now do.

It was too good to last.

Even is it is a digital TV, it still requires a cable box.  So, the old TV in the basement we used while throwing a load in the washer, or folding the laundry is now disconnected.  No sense in paying $5.00 a month for a cable box that is seldom used.  The TV in the kitchen did need a box, as did the TV on the wall in the bedroom.  Those were boxless for years, but now I needed to figure out where to put the newly required boxes.  The kitchen was fairly straight forward, the box sits on the counter with the tiny flat screen on top of it.  The vents aren't blocked, and it works.  The bedroom was different.  The TV is hung on the wall with no place to put a cable box.  I though of putting the box on top of my bureau on the other side of the room, but Mary knocked that thought out of my head.  No, it had to go near the TV, preferably above it.

The Container Store in Natick has a bunch of neat shelving products.  I bought a shelf system there a few years ago that was simple shelf supported by a cable.  The shelf hung above the TV on the wall putting the box, Blu-ray player, and Wii console up, and out of the way.  All the cables are hidden behind a cable hiding system I bought at Home Depot.

I drove back over to the Container Store to see what other options there were for the bedroom, and found a simple system of a shelve, and two supports.  It was rated to support up to 65 pounds, and was simple.  It also cost under $20.  Come to find out the Home Depot has a very similar system, too.

I bought the shelf, and supports, and installed them that day.  Took very little time, and Mary was happy.  The only issue was the new cable box had the time lit up on it all the time.  I never paid much attention to that on the other boxes, but in the bedroom that little bit of light is very annoying.  Between the air conditioner LED lights in the summer, the humidifier LED lights in the winter, the clock radio, the little standby LED on the TV, and now the cable box , the bedroom was lit up like Times Square.  Then I remembered reading an article about the phantom energy robbers in our homes.  One of the things that robs electricity is cable boxes that stay lit all the time.  I pushed the menu button on the remote, chose to have the clock off unless the box was turned on, and the problem was solved.  I did the same for all the other boxes in the house, too.

If you have a table to place the cable box on you are all set, but it your TV is stuck on a wall without a table in sight, then these shelves may be an option for you.

Saving a little electricity is always good, but getting that annoying cable box up, and out of the way is even better.