Monday, October 22, 2007

Senior benefits and consequences

Besides having gained great wisdom, there are a few other benefits of aging. One of these is the Senior Discount. We get discounts at Kohl's Department Store, fast food restaurants, and cinemas for a few examples. A particularly good deal for seniors is the National Parks Pass, formerly known as the Golden Passport. For a lifetime cost of only $10, I now have admission for myself and up to 3 companions (such as grand kids) to nearly 400 national parks and monuments. Here, I'm holding up my recently purchased Parks Pass in front of the entrance to Point Park National Park, a military park memorializing the Civil War battle of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
After the picture was taken, I spun around, stepped off a curb, and promptly fell, causing a severe impact to my knee caps. I wiped off the blood and kept going, but later that evening an apple-sized swelling of blood and fluid collected over my knee and made it so stiff I couldn't bend my leg or walk. I wound up taking an ambulance to the local emergency room. The doctor said I would be on crutches for few days but I only took one day. I believe the fall is also a senior citizen, age-related thing. Maybe I should have applied for my Park Pass several decades earlier and USED it. I hear so many people say, "when I retire ...". Take it now pal.

Or, as Billy Crystal once put it: By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

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