It was an ordinary day. Reading once again about how to live until I am...very old or dead! A few suggestions were (1) Don't smoke, (2) Don't drink, (3) Exercise daily, (4) Eat little red meat, and (5) Believe in God! Now, I have made it to a year past the 3/4 century mark so I must have been doing something right along the way. I can't claim that I never smoked, since I did in high school...so I would look neat! It worked! But then while in college I met this good looking girl and asked her for a date. After a ride on my Honda we headed back to her place and I asked her if she would mind if I smoked. She said she wouldn't date me again if I smoked so I never smoked ever again. Honest! As for drinking, I never cared for it in the first place. Yeah, I know I'm sort of odd, but it's the truth. Only ever had one beer in my life and after drinking it I just couldn't understand why anyone could drink that stuff. I do enjoy wine and rum, but that's because they are two of the easiest drinks to find in the Caribbean. Now...as far as exercising daily...I used to! When I was younger and participating in athletics I exercised daily. But then old age came along and he didn't treat me very well and...well, I have difficulty walking due to a bad back, even after 4 surgeries to try and correct it. I now have two feet that are dying, as my doctor says to me. My toes are curling under and I have numbness in my left foot which is slowly creeping into my right foot. As for eating red meat...well I do enjoy a burger from time to time and can eat a good steak once a week. My weakness though is seafood, but I just assumed that as long as it wasn't red, it must be good for me. As for believing in God...that's not hard to do. How else did I get here? Who provides the sun and the rain and the warm and the cold? Who else gives the airline pilots the nerve to fly a plane full of people to a beautiful warm Caribbean island so they can get bright red and have to peel off a layer of their old skin? And who else could have given me a chance to teach school and continue to work with my hands after over 3/4 of a century? I have enjoyed many years of singing in the church choir as well as getting married in the same church. I have been helped in making the right choices many, many times in my life. And, someone gave me a fabulous wife, three great kids, a beautiful daughter-in-law and a loving son-in-law as well as three special grandkids. I believe that God did all that for me. Now...the question is...why! I sometimes speed while driving. I sometimes swear. I'm not always nice to everyone. I spit on the sidewalk. I forget to shower sometimes. I sometimes eat too many cookies and eat too much candy. And...the list goes on and on. But yet HE still watches out for me. The other day I read an article titled "FREE YOUR INNER GEEZER!" Story led me to write this story today. I got my list of 5 things that will lead to a long life from the story. And...I believed everything that the author said. Then I realized that the guy who wrote the story was a minister. Wow, I saw myself in the guy whose story I was a reading. Maybe, just maybe, I should have become a minister. But then, I think back to having to learn all the books of the Bible before I could be confirmed into the church. That's what helped me decide not to be a minister. I'm hoping for many more years of living, but just hope I can remember what I did in those years after I have lived them. Someone told me that writing helps your mind...so you can count on reading stories for a long, long time. That is as long as I get help from my best friend! Any idea whom that may be? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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