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Drooling on the Pillow

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Embracing The Geezer Within 

Sometimes I like to be way above everything and just think.

It may look like I'm contemplating doing a little gravity rainbow down to street level, but I'm not. The truth is, at least when I was young, I was something of an acrophiliac. Loved climbing ladders and trees, loved being on catwalks, loved flying. Being up high was comforting. I felt liberated and the world became about only two things: the air and my thoughts.

For various reasons, I haven't done much flying in recent years and last weekend I realized I was going to have to paint the rear of the house next summer and I began to strategize the placement of the 30 foot ladder and came to the mildly unsettling realization that I was not going to be happy up there.

Natural progression, I guess. As you get older you get fonder of your skin. The balance tips from sensation to consequence. You've got responsibilities tying you to the ground. The meaning of risk completely changes color.

In my trip to the Keansburg water park last weekend I was having a great old time. Always been a freak for rollercoasters and similarly low risk thrills. On one of the slides, though, I had an unfortunate take-off and banged from one side to the other all the way down. My arms, my head and my knees were all bruised up. I got out of the pool and my only thought was that maybe putting my $30,000 in knee surgery at risk in that way wasn't too smart. For the first time in my life I didn't want to go down again. And I didn't.

Drink your cocoa quietly, kids, Grampa Sluggo's taking a nap.

Compensating for all this is the fact that I've gotten much better looking.
Posted by: Sluggo / 11:37 AM
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