NOV 30, 11 .. A TRIP MILESTONE
Today.. Wednesday.. November 30th is a trip-milestone ..
On August 30th, 2011 .. I flew out of San Francisco bound for Hong Kong.. arriving into Hong Kong August 31st ..
On February 29th, 2012.. I will (God and lots of variables willing) fly from Hong Kong back to San Francisco arriving into San Francisco on February 29th .. a nice six months ..
So ?
Today marks the beginning of the second half of this trip .. the total days in the trip are 184 .. so 92 days constitute each half of the trip ..
I would like to THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU who have been supporting me with your interest in the trip ..
When I began this trip.. I did so with the thought that it may well be my grand hurrah .. at age 75 you can not easily take-for-granted that you have endless years ahead of you for traveling this far and this long ..
You can pretty well ‘ fake ‘ a trip of a month or two .. your western health will carry you that far.. but when you pass the two month mark .. then you will find out what you have inside of you ..
I have to chuckle .. I love that saying .. “If a woman could really bring back the child birthing experience we would have far more one child families..”
It seems that the experience of the child rearing process is such that it dims the birthing memories and here we go again.. and in some cases .. again and again ..
This is germane here to me because .. IF you will re-read the early writings .. I was sick and fast .. no way did I slide easily along for the first two months ..
THIS PAST THIRD month (commencing Saturday.. November 12th..) I had to get onto a regime of antibiotics to stop a serious lung issue .. and I had to go past the recommended dosage for a second full term .. eleven days instead of the prescribed five ..
So here I sit .. I am HAPPY TO SAY .. fully and satisfactorily recovered from that major challenge ..
And like the mother .. I have put out of my immediate consciousness the challenges now past me and I sit fat and happy full of good memories about the ride so far ..
What a giggle this all is.. just a few short days ago I was still crouping and hacking and coughing .. waiting for the residuals of the medicine stored in my cells to kick in and deliver the final blow to the infection.. which they have done ..
Those of you following along here have been making remarks .. “Are you all right.. your writing has fallen off..”
So I am not what I think I am .. but I can easily rationalize that it has to do with being in the tropics and the easy lifestyle ‘on the beach’ ..
I am just super cool and laid back like everyone else is ..
Some of those young Europeans are asking me .. “What in the hell I am doing doing what I am doing..” ..
When I really ‘ hammer it ‘ .. you know.. walk five or so miles in the blazing sun.. or wash the floors of my apartment and process ten litres of water with halazone tablets for batheing .. and maybe do a washing on the side.. I find that that evening I can barely get into bed and the next day I am ‘shot’ and wondering what is wrong..
Like the mother is thinking ‘her next day after birthing’ ..why am I so tired this morning .. HELLO MADAM ..
I am going to conclude this by saying .. my young swedish neighbors are talking to me about a man they know in sweden who is ninety (90) years young AND what he is up to .. and Colonel Norman Vaughn was climbing mountains in his nineties so hell why can’t I do the same ..
BUT DAMN.. I HATE TO BE TOTALLY MISSING THE N.F.L. SEASON .. and I CAN DRESS FOR THE MINUS FIFTY BELOW WINTERS IN NORTHERN ALASKA ..
and there is the croup resurrecting itself.. smiles.. cap .. (love too).