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Reflections April 2012

Aid for Age

Not Going Away

By Tait Trussell

We don’t want to board the dog somewhere while we go happily off just to get warm for a month. Going away even for a month or two still means coming back to a cold spring. It never gets warm here until June at the earliest.

If you live in the northern part of the country, winter blusters and cold can drive you south.

Our friends Dick and Carol Lindberg always spend a month in Florida. Mert and Jeanne Youngberg are headed for Venice next Monday. Hank and Edie Minster left Tuesday for three months in Arizona.

Our neighbors, Carl and Del Mikolajczyak leave for their regular month on the Alabama shore this week end. Art and Erika Benson are in their condo somewhere in northern California. Pat and Bonnie Cook will be leaving soon for another western trip.

No wonder so many people are getting out of town. We have several inches of snow on the ground covering a couple of inches of ice. The temperature in the mornings has ranged from 7 degrees to 24 degrees.

Anybody who is able would be a fool to stay in frigid Manistee, Michigan. My wife and I fit that description — with one large exception. Namely, we don’t want to leave here. We lived in Florida for 10 years. We have been all over the state as well as to other pleasant and warm locations in other states.

We have been to the West, to Alaska, to England, France, Scotland, Italy in years past. So, it’s not as if we haven’t traveled.

But we have good reasons to stay here for the winter. Up to this year, we had to do so because, my wife, Nancy, was still teaching. Now she is retired. I have been semi-retired for what seems like half a lifetime, but have continued to write on a regular basis — everything from columns, editorials, articles, to books, poetry and songs, even a hymn.

But why don’t we go to the Greek islands or Costa Rica? Little interest.

A very important reason for not heading south or trekking around the country or the world is our friend and pet, Beans. We don’t want to board him somewhere while we go happily off just to get warm for a month. Going away even for a month or two still means coming back to a cold spring. It never gets warm here until June at the earliest.

Another essential reason for not heading off to warmer climes, or anywhere else is that — at my age — my balance is bad and walking more than a block is so painful to my arthritic hips that we couldn’t walk long distances to see sites or shop, or certainly not ride ocean waves, as we once did.

Then there are other logical reasons for staying put:

Last year, the Lindbergs ran into a disappointing cold spell nearly the entire time they were in Florida. The Youngbergs last winter had car trouble while returning home and had to spend the night in Dodunk Corners, Georgia, or some God-forsaken place posing as a town. The Minsters lost a good friend they were visiting who died during the visit.

The Mikolajczyaks ran into frightful weather on their trip back, narrowly missing a tornado, which delayed their return by two days. The Bensons’ condo fee was raised. And the Cooks’ camper had a malfunction in the water system.

Other than those mishaps, I’m sure our friends had a worthwhile and notable get-away. And eventually this year will be back a little sunburned and poorer and facing the cold blasts of spring.

Meanwhile, except for having to shovel snow off our driveway (which my wife enjoys doing in the crisp air), we stay cozy by our gas fireplace and have been continually entertained by the presidential campaign debates and the football games, with our pup by our side.

What more could one ask? We don’t even miss the salt water toffee.

 

Tait Trussell is an old guy and fourth-generation professional journalist who writes extensively about aging issues among a myriad of diverse topics.

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