The current pandemic crisis sent me down a memory hole, reflecting on my life. I am in the highest risk demographic, but refuse to let it get me down. Some philosopher said that life itself is a fatal disease. No one gets out of it alive.
Those thoughts caused me to go over events of recent days, in which I had to do battle with a camera’s unblinking eye, and my shaving mirror. This diary is the result of those thoughts.
I am not the image in the mirror. A couple of days ago, Sockpuppet and I went out for breakfast at a new coffee shop that serves beignets and café au lait.
While there, Socks took my picture. I was appalled. The camera does not lie. When I came home, I looked in my shaving mirror. Same guy.
As I sat with her later on the couch, I began to reflect how the world looks from the inside looking out, and is not what others see when they look at me.
This is the guy looking out with my eyes. My mind is still clear, thank goodness, and I am still able to go to work, as well as write reasonably coherent sentences. All too many folks my age are not so lucky.
That whole train of thought sent me down a path I had rather not travel. Last time I checked my high school graduating class, most of them had crossed over to the Other Side. I am a few years past my actuarial expiration date, but here I am. Still around, grumping about how I look, when I should be grateful that I am able to be grumpy and wrinkled.
Later, while looking for some music to play for this story, I stumbled across a singer I had not thought of in years; Jim Glaser.
Jim Glaser appeared on the country music scene in 1968, when he was 31-years-old. His first recording was called God Help You Woman. Not a particularly good song, and I don’t care for the title. However, I selected it for the album cover photo of Jim Glaser at age 31, as well as his fine tenor voice and styling.
Sixteen years later, in 1984, the music industry got around to recognizing Jim Glaser’s monumental talent and voice. In 1984 he was awarded (belatedly, methinks) the Academy of Country Music award for, "Top New Male Vocalist.” He was 47 at the time. This short video is only a half-minute long. Posted to illustrate what Jim Glaser looked like at that age, nearly halfway through his life.
Jim Glaser died one year ago, in April 2019. He recorded a few songs live in the years before his death. This song, Let Me Down Easy, was recorded in 2017, when he was 78 or 79.
This was one of Jim Glaser’s last recording sessions, made only a little more than a year before he passed away. He sings an old Kris Kristofferson song. Amazing how he kept his voice.
Jim Glaser is the perfect example of what to do in order to fight off the ravages of time. Keep doing what you do, no matter how you look on the outside.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Chili Davis
I am still the guy in the photo at the top, even if I look more like Jim Glaser in the video above.
As Socks keeps reminding me, one’s body is only a means of communicating with the outside world.
We are facing an uncertain future. We are community, and need to keep reminding ourselves of that fact.
Lagniappe for the day and the circumstance:
Gemeinschaftsgefühl — a German word, the full meaning of which does not completely translate into English. Generally, it refers to a feeling of community connectedness, with empathy for the welfare of the entire community. This was identified by Abraham Maslow as being an essential component of the self-actualized person. That is, the most mentally healthy and sound among us.
We need this feeling now, more than ever.