1 Foot in the Grave

I believed in the black eye — “I would rather fight than switch” (the advertising slogan of Tereyton cigarettes) — but I finally quit almost 9 years ago. After smoking cigarettes for 35 years and pot for 20, I’m finally starting to get something back for it. Yeah, sure, I got the bad breath, the yellow teeth and stinky clothes a long time ago, but now the really good stuff is comin’ my way.

I get to take long, leisurely showers now… Not because I have the time or inclination, of course, but because I don’t have much choice. I get out of breath just washing my hair.

Friends and family wait on me hand and foot… Not because I am so dynamic and popular, but because I can no longer do some of the things I used to take for granted.

I got to spend a little time laying around in bed with these really cool wires attached to me after a heart attack, caused by a low level of oxygen saturation in my blood.

One of the best things of all is the really cool back pack I get to wear every day now. (more…)

I should consider myself lucky that I’ve made it through life this far. My childhood was filled with accidents and I prob’ly cheated death a few times. Broke several bones, or dislocated them. Pulled some hair-brained stunts and was involved in incidents that any one of them could have taken my life and the lives of others. One of my earliest memories, if not the first one, was the feeling - the fear really - of drowning in a huge snow bank.

That was in Alaska, where I was born an Army brat, and I had dived head first from the porch into the drift that settled in our front yard. The snow, stiff and crusty, held me firm and I couldn’t move. I panicked and screamed for help.

There’s no screaming now (more…)