Think back to your childhood. Do you remember how excited everyone around you got when you said your first word or took your first tedious steps? People around us would clap and tell us how wonderful we were. Then we all started going to school and the competition got a bit stiffer and there were always more people who wanted to compete against you. As we all got older, the competitions became harder. There was still applause and adulation for the winners, but the ratio of winner to not-winner shrank it seemed every year. Then you finally finished with school and most of us entered the work world and the cycle of achievement and adulation started up once again and yes, the number and talent of competitors increased.
Once I retired from the work-a-day world, I knew that my achievement based applause would decline. But sometimes I think we could acknowledge Seniors for the accomplishments that are made. For instance I am now getting a C‑Pap machine. I didn’t have to go in anywhere to get my face measured, because technology digitized my face on my phone. I sure hope I held my face correctly. The digitizer would give me instructions on how to set my face, but since I could not wear my glasses during this bit of technological wonder, I often couldn’t read the instructions.
I’ll find out next week how all of this is going to work. I will attend a group seminar to get introduced to my C‑Pap machine and then I MUST use it that first night to keep insurance companies from getting mad at me. Not only am I not receiving any recognition for achieving this life milestone, I might make anonymous insurance bureaucrats angry at me in the process.
In the middle of all this, I realize that I am now going to make strange noises while I sleep and I might look like an alien. I guess you could say that my snoring was also noisy, but at least that was an organic noise. This is more of there’s a monster in my bed sounding like Darth Vader or something. I have attempted to prepare my elderly cat for this adjustment to our sleep environment. To date, she is not too excited about the whole new arrangement. So far she has responded by sticking her tongue out at me and shedding extra fluffy white hair on my black bed sheets and comforter. I’ll keep you posted on how this progresses.
When I’m not looking for more alien devices to attach to my face, I have been settling into my new apartment. I have one long wall that I am converting into the likes of a French Salon. Pictures will be hung as they fit rather than by topic or color. It helps to receive Hannah’s input and opinion on some of the tough decisions that must be made. Several of the pieces are works completed by other artists. Some are my own creations. I love the “hodge-podgieness” of the whole experience. Yes, of course I will send you pictures when all is done. And yes, skulls and witches alike are given equal amounts of space.