As I get older I have had to face my own mortality several times.  We learn many different ways that one day we will die but when we are young that is not every in our thoughts.  When Joe was little several times he did something he knew he should not and of course got hurt and each time as we took him to the hospital he said” See I didn’t kill myself.”  so even though I worried about it, dieting was never in his thoughts as deciding to do this or that.  Last week Regina was here working on her home work with me and as she looked around trying to find something else to think about other than learning to spell she noticed for the first time how wrinkled my upper arms are.  She reached out with her finger and touched the soft underside of my upper arm and asked in a very serious voice,” How did that get so wrinkled?”  I don’t think she had ever thought of me as old or even noticed it before..  I just looked at her and said, “That happens when you have been around as long as I have.”   She asked how long I had been around and I told her 83 years.  She thought for a minute and then asked if she would get like that too.  I told her yes, but not for a long, long time yet.  Then she looked at Norman and noticed for the first time that he looked old too and in a whisper asked how “How long has he been around?”  I told her “He has been around 85 years.”  She looked long and hard at him and so I added, “He was two years old when I was born.”  She looked very surprised to think that he was ever two years old, then got very quiet.  She then got back to her work but kept looking at my arms and then at hers.  I think that was the first time she had ever really thought that she could get old.  I didn’t mention anything about me dying before she got that old, I thought just thinking about getting old is enough for a 6 year old to worry about.  Today she comes over again after school and we will be back to that battle of homework.  I am glad I didn’t have home work to do in the first grade.  I gave my mother enough head aches without fighting over homework in the first grade.  Today Gina has finished almost all of this weeks required homework so we will finish that up and then act out to story “The Princess on the Glass Hill.”  I have the knights and my small Barbie dolls will play the  parts of Boots and the Princess so as I read the story to her she can make them act out the story.  She loves to pretend so she should have a good time with this and maybe it will inspire her to read the story herself another day.

Norman and I went for our flu shots this morning.  That is the only medicine we take and we do that only because we always have and think it would be foolish not to have the shot while we are here in the city and exposed to so many people.  Norman went for his eye shot last week but the doctor would not give it to him because his eye pressure was so high.  The nurse took the pressure and got 26.  Dr Paul said he could not give him the shot when it was that high and to make sure she read it correctly he took the pressure again and got 27.  He has exfoliating cataracts and Dr Paul thinks the foliation is clogging up the drainage system in his eye and if he gave Norman the shot for his macular degeneration on top of that high pressure it would really harm his sight so he gave Norman some medicine to use this week to help unclog the drainage system in the eye and he goes in the 30th of this month to see if the pressure is better and if so he will get his shot then.  I hope it is better as he can’t have the cataract operation when it is that high either and he can’t have it  without first getting the shot for the macular degeneration.  So we are in a catch 22 situation right now which doesn’t make for a very happy camper.  Norman tries very hard not to worry but I know he is worried and so am I.  Pray for him.  Have a great day.