A Drunk And A Fool

When you turn 90 years of age, you revert back to childhood aging and every 6 months becomes as meaningful as bowel movements. As does keeping your feet elevated to get the fluid (aka 'pee') distributed through your body instead of sinking to your ankles which then become the size of soft balls.

So, I'm 92 1/2, with a new, 5 month old, aorta heart valve and slowly recovering with 'slowly' being the operative word. In order to avoid even borderline hypochondria, Dr. Google is out of my life. Dr. Patricia Nguyen a cardiologist of the VA/Stanford is terrific. Beats the hell out of Dr. Google.

Constipation is gone. The cure is in too much Chicken Chow Mein or Chicken Pot Pie. Either one will give you pleasure while chowing down, later you might decide that constipation is more better.

5 different prescription pills is my emotional limit. If you're Jewish, as I am, every kvetch becomes life threatening. Going into a hospital invites a UTI.

An ambulance ride ain't like spending a day at the beach. Two, resulting from being a careless outdoor cycler were my fate.

And along comes Memorial Day to remind me of the fallen and gives me reasons to be grateful for still being alive, having lived through two marriages, Okinawa plus a ton of travel and barrels of booze.

Al Brodie was the father of John who, in turn, was a star quarterback at Stanford and S.F. 49ers. Al died, I was told, of cirrhosis of the liver around 60 years old.

Al lived in Atherton, would walk  (He knew driving was a no,no.) to Beltramo's (a bar, liquor store on the edge of Atherton) at around 11 and drink hard booze til noon. Then walk to Fabbro's a drinker's bar and restaurant and have warm red wine with roast beef and spaghetti. Then back to Beltramo's for some serious drinking. This was a daily weekday routine. I would join him for the late afternoon, early evening stint.

His other son, Bill, was 86'd out of almost every local bar. He'd get plastered and look to get into fist fights. I think he also died of cirrhosis.

Me? God takes care of drunks and fools and since I qualify on both scores, I am still alive at 92 1/2.