Ostomy Memories of the Three Ages of Man

YOU CAN DIVIDE ANYTHING BY THREE. It may not come out even, but that’s not the point. The aim is to separate out different stages, or different places on a chart, or different elements of existence. When you’re young, for example, everything may be new to you but you become aware that it is all normal, it’s the way stuff works. In fact, that becomes your first job, to learn all this everyday stuff. That’s the First Age of Man, up until sometime in your teens. Then, it dawns on you that, if life is about nothing but all this boring normal stuff, you had better get busy looking for something more, and you start hearing about revolutionary new stuff, better or easier of smarter ways to do things, and this is when you begin looking for what ought to be your career. It is the Second Age of Man. Once you’re well into, or perhaps a little past, what we like to refer to as “middle age,” however, the excitement starts to wear off, the novelty ceases to appeal to your sense of adventure. In fact, one morning, you wake up and wonder what the hell happened to your sense of adventure. All that new stuff loses its glow; it even pisses you off when you think about it. You begin to realize that old, normal stuff isn’t so bad after all. This is the Third Age of Man. You’ve come full circle.

Makes perfect sense, Henry, but you have to keep your sense of wonder alive and kicking. My mom was a tiny little woman, very smart and very dedicated to family, like my dad. They struggled just to feed us all. When my mom was around 65, my parents became regular visitors to the US, and they took to it like a duck to water! 💚 We were always afraid mom would get too adventurous and get into trouble. My stooped-over tiny mom would get up early, climb the stairs to the elevated Bronx Subway, and head off into Manhattan by herself! There were bargain clothes stores on 14th Street, and she loved to go and buy clothes for all the grandkids and great-grandkids to bring home. She had lived in London as a young girl, but fast-paced New York was just way too much for her... We used to think! Boy, were we wrong. She could navigate the NY Subway like a native in no time. She was still doing that into her 80s every year. Same in San Francisco. Everyone for blocks around knew her; she knew more people than I knew! My mom and dad's sense of adventure kept them going, and all those tough early years were topped off by adventures they never could have dreamed of when they first got hitched! 💚☘❤...my tribute to their kind, loving, gentle souls.

My dad said that mom would get "itchy feet" and get up one morning and out of the blue say... let's go to see the boys... and one girl, NY, DC, and SF was the trail, and off they would go to babysit the kiddies and have another big adventure.

I'm quite sure you're no shrinking violet when it comes to adventures, Henry! Long may you wander in those beautiful canyons... just get home for dinner, my friend! ☘

Eamon.