vol. 58

car thief...
i read this article in yesterday's NY Times Magazine about a woman's fight with her father to get him to stop driving as he continued to age -- pretty much to no avail... it got me to thinking about my papap's driving and how he just didn't want to give it up (until he went in to the home and had to...) now, i'm the first to moan and groan about old people driving and the need to have a re-test for drivers over, let's say 65 -- and while this article certainly softened my stance on it some, i still feel this testing is necessary... there's not a doubt in my mind that i'm filled with road rage, and it never fails that these senior citizens are on the roads ready to cash their government checks or to their 4 pm dinner at Hoss's at the same time i'm trying to get... anywhere - but it definitely makes you think...

as did hearing about Lydia Kepple, the grandmother of some students i've had in class or coached - she passed away last week at 109 -- let that sink in -- 109 -- she was born in 1900 -- just think of all the things she experienced in her lifetime -- cars, radio, tv, airplanes, kennedy being shot (she was in her 60s when that happened...), computers, cell phones, etc. -- she lived through WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, Persian Gulf Wars I and II -- the Great Depression... it's just unfathomable to think of all the things she saw in her life, and from what the kids have said, she was very active until about a year ago, when she moved in to Redstone Highlands -- she had 13 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great grandchildren -- amazing -- she was 92 years old when mike, the oldest of the kids i've coached, was born...

so if i make it to 109, it will be 2080 -- scary to think of all the things that could happen in between now and then...