SEP 5, 22 .. TODAY, YOURS TRULY CELEBRATES HIS 86TH BIRTHDAY

I want to begin by sharing a VERY TENDER birthday greeting from Patti’s friend Kay to Patti and I on our two birthdays.

Friends are angels

Who lift us to our feet

When our spirits have trouble

Remembering how to fly. 

Thank You So Very Much Kay !!

– – – – – – – –

September 5, 1936 (5:52am Eastern Standard time) until today means that I have now completed 86 years of life. Whewie!

In past years, I have not gotten into anything even beginning to approach (call it) a serious look at one of my birthdays. I have just chronicled what Patti and I have done (where we enjoyed eating on my birthday etc). Birthdays are joyous celebrations. Birthdays bring back happy memories. Memories of Birthday Cakes, presents, cards, calls from family and friends etc.

This year is VERY different from all of my other birthdays because it comes with some sadness.

I will begin by discussing the sadness that I am feeling as I celebrate this milestone.  I grew up with two close childhood friends, Ed and Bob. We three grew up together, beginning with Kindergarten through High School, Ed born August 17, 1936, and Bob born August 30, 1936. Both of these close friends passed away this year and I sit here missing them very much.

Am I experiencing survivor guilt? Am I questioning,”Why am I still here when both Ed and Bob are gone?” I wonder but I don’t think so.

The below words come from The Man Of La Mancha, a movie that deeply touched my soul when I saw it back in 1972:

Miguel de Cervantes : Life as it is. I’ve lived for over 40 years and I’ve seen life as it is. Pain. Misery. Cruelty beyond belief. I’ve heard all the voices of God’s noblest creature. Moans from bundles of filth in the street. I’ve been a soldier and a slave. I’ve seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I’ve held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning “Why?” I do not think they were asking why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams – -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! And maddest of all – to see life as it is and not as it should be!

Profound huh? And maddest of all – to see life as it is and not as it should be!

When my time comes I will not cross over into the next realm wondering why I lived. As lives go, I wouldn’t trade with anyone I know. I have experienced, and I have lived, at some amazingly elevated levels of achievement. In motor sports (I reached the highest level of automobile racing), in religion (I worked in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa and her organization) and in recovery (carrying the message in Russian Siberia for 9 months not to mention doing so in Mongolia and many other places). I also am extremely satisfied with my years of military service. Enlisted Marine Corps. Commissioned Officer Navy CB’s. I have traveled and also lived in many parts of the world outside of the United States. 

I have two sons (their mother passed on in 2008), and Gail, and I have ended up with My True Soulmate Patti. 

Ah yes!! What an incredible ride this life has been!! 

All I can say is that I have been deeply touched by the Hand Of The Master God, Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy Spirit. No other way to describe it.

And? What may lay ahead? We’ll have to ask Lamont Cranston, THE SHADOW for the answer.

This I know : I want to finish the deal called living life with my head held high. This could become my greatest life challenge because I have never, until now, experienced long term health challenges (long covid extreme fatigue) that seem to be sapping my very life vitality with no medical answers in sight as of this instant. 

Smiling and signing off for the time being.

YOUR ALLY .. Cap

Let me assure one and all reading along here, when I began to write this post, what you have just read above was not on my agenda. I told Patti that I planned to spend 10 minutes maximum on this and get to bed.

• ← SEP 4, 22 .. A NICE, EARLY SEPTEMBER, AUTUMN DAY HERE IN ANCHORAGE, ALASKA.
• SEP 6, 22 .. MY 86TH BIRTHDAY WAS LOW KEY AND RELAXED FROM START TO FINISH →