Saturday, August 04, 2012

Beyound Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok

                                                
This morning I figured out I was exactly two years, 5 days and 16 hours away from 70.  Which might seem old but to lessen the impact of this age thing I've decided to start thinking of age as just  an generic marker. For example if your two years five days and 16 hours from 70 and in good health your probably living a youthful existence but while a person in bad health is old, so who cares about the age number. You see I've given this age thing a lot of thought ever since, Dad at 39, died of a blocked heart artery while taking a shower in the next room from me where I was watching TV, so there you have it.  That was when I was 13, but my know-it -all sister says 14, whatever, what’s important is that is the day I decided to pack as many experiences as possible into my life, just in case my fate was the same as Dads. 

Staring out by ditching the bus and instead hitch hiking the 35 miles to school, skipping school and going on mini adventures around town and in the outdoors by our house, spending the summers sailing on the Great Lakes on a big sailboat, winters, skiing and then after getting out of high school (I did graduate) drove my 1959 VW to Aspen and spent my time ski bumming, then there were several failed attempts at college (just took too much time), a year in Vietnam, off road motorcycles, my long fling in the fast paced, newly evolving plastic business ("one word, plastics my boy") and two ex wives, a .com start up that went bust but evolved into a sales rep business. It was about this same time I also picked up an ASA degree and finished off a 10 year stint at single parenthood. My freedom back I returned to Vietnam, 32 years after my first visit when a two week visit turned into a two month stay. Twelve years have passed since and time has brought a lot of changes in the world, Vietnam and Doug.

Out of kindness to my reader I'll skip Doug's view of the changes in the world and Vietnam and stick to youthful Doug approaching the generic marker of 70. As you may have guessed I'm the type of guy that has put a lot of faith in leeway pulling me through some good and bad times but as time goes on I’m finding leeway isn’t what it used to be. For example, at 20 when I got drunk, fell down the stairs maybe I would end up stumping around with a cast for a few months, now if got into the same liquored up state I would be lucky to make it to the stairs.  Anyway, hope you get where I'm going.

Also, I'm finding out that now sickness is not such a big concern in it's self because it has mostly been replaced by having a condition.  It has been my experience that conditions aren’t normally medicated a way, like the dose of the clap my buddy was treated for back in the day.  Bad example, how about chicken pox?

Another recent example of the condition thing is my stomach problem I had in Saigon that the Columbia Asia clinic diagnosed as a arterial blockage to the heart (just like dad), not stomach gas but a condition, though unlike Dad I would survive but the condition will always be part of my life.

Then there is that money thing, back in the day I never took money seriously but my ex did and now the aging Doug realizes that he should have been paying closer attention. While thinking “why is it I'm always the last to know these things”. Then there was that great plan that corporations pushed through which resulted in the  closing out of my retirement plan and allowing it to be invested on Wall Street in a 401 k and we all know how that worked out.

Two years, 5 days and 16 hours away from a youthful, generic 70 puts me way ahead of my dad, which is a very good thing. Then there is my condition but I still ran/walked 15 miles this week as I do most weeks. with no ill effects.  Money, yup a lot harder to come by now but with a bit of finagling I’ll still be able to spend the winter in Asia bumming around no matter how Wall Street conspires against me.

Thanks for listening.
.

No comments: