Another anniversary
PRENOTE: Other recent posts: Murder in Washington DC (Nov 29); and Incidents (Dec 3). I had sent the “murder” post to several who I thought had a particular interest, so it includes several interesting comments.
There have been a number of comments to the post on Ken Burns American Revolution (Nov 22) which you may find of interest. If you haven’t watched the series check your local PBS station for information. It is worth your time.
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Under the Knife: Seven Years ago today, December 4, 2018, I spent the day in an operating theatre at Fairview Southdale Medical center in Edina. I was subject of the days work for a medical team giving me a new valve in my heart. I went to sleep probably before 8 a.m., and didn’t wake up until the middle of the night maybe 18 hours later.
I woke up to two or three muscular male nurses standing me up and asking if could move or feel one leg. I couldn’t. Apparently I had a small stroke which was noticed. That dilemma cleared up quickly – I don’t remember anything more about it and it certainly didn’t follow me out of the hospital.
But my adventure wasn’t over. I was transferred to rehab facility, which almost immediately sent me back to the hospital because of AFIB, perhaps a consequence of the surgery.
I was back at Southdale for a few days. A memory is of a attendant who had to stay with me, and who loved the Hallmark Channel movies for the Christmas season. This was certainly okay, I’m sure. She was there to be immediate assistance if needed, and it wasn’t needed (though it could be).
Then I went back to rehab, and didn’t come home until Christmas Eve. My three week “vacation” was over. I don’t recall any dramatic events other than those described above. At rehab they did the requisite physical and cognitive things like climbing three steps and descending them; showing them that I could make a grilled cheese sandwich – finding the utensils, and the ingredients and the process, Everything made sense.
I have no sour memories at all. I was fortunate to be ill in this community. The staff was great. (The December 1, 2025 Minnesota Star Tribune had an excellent column on “The people behind your health plan are often immigrants”. You can read it here: Star Tribune Medical Dec. 1, 2025)
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It is now seven years later, and I am seven years older, still living in the same house and occasionally being reminded that I’m 85 years old, and not 40 anymore, All elders can tell the same stories, perhaps the only variation the particular body part or the degree of physical or mental dilemma. You can pretend only so long. The body starts to wear out.
Today I did my usual 11 laps around the indoor soccer field nearby. It’s a very long time habit 2 1/2 miles five days a week. It’s boring, but I have a ritual, starting usually at 7 in the morning, ending about a quarter to eight. Once in a while the body or the mind isn’t interested in 11 laps, but I almost always walk through the dilemma and complete the personal olympics, like all of the others engaged in the same activity in the same space. Sometimes the soccer field is closed. On those days it’s off to Lifetime Fitness and the tread mill….
My annual physical is coming up and for seniors comes the dreaded cognitive test – the three words, and the clock. So far, I’ve always passed, but last year I only got two of the words….
I’ve started to say to those who know me, “if you see something, say something”.
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I came face to face with being an elder last year when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were candidates for President and Vice-President. I looked them up, and found that my oldest son was a little older than both of them. My youngest granddaughter just turned 19. Ouch.
These are signals to start to let go – it’s the younger persons turn to make or break their future. On the other hand, what I and other seniors know that the Youngers cannot is that we do have some accumulated wisdom gained by experience that might well be mined by the young, so that they can hopefully learn from our mistakes, and survive the future that we will not see, since we are nearing the exit. Will the youngers come through for themselves? I think so. Peter Leschak STrib Aug 17 2025 wrote an excellent column on how progress happens. It’s a very homespun column and you’ll enjoy reading it, and youngers will too.
This is nothing new, of course. Every generation of every culture has the same stories about the Youngers and the Elders and Themselves. Wisdom has to be accepted, it cannot be forced. It is useful.
All best wishes for an enjoyable holiday season, though there is much to be concerned about as we end a tumultuous year, and prepare for a possibly even more tumultuous 2026. I’m ‘on the court’ and I plan to stay there as long as possible.
COMMENTS (more at end)
from Carole: What a memory — clearly your work was/is not finished.
from Jim: Great to “see” you! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, a better Christmas, and a fantastic New Year. (It’s up to us to work for a better future – as you know – and we will.)
from Brad: happy to see some Minnesota people resisting ICE, and supporting their neighbors against Trump’s racist and discriminatory policies. Lots of work to do!
from Gary: Dick you don’t look a day over 80. Thanks again for reminding us all of our own past.
from Judy: What a wonderful positive update. I am pleased you remain healthy. I too have AFIB and am enormously grateful to the immigrant staff who have cared for me at my many health care appts. I am age 83. Who would have ever imagined in our lifetime ( post WW2) that we would be living in a country who has resorted to our current political climate.
from Fred: I liked the entry and applaud your wisdom “to start to let go.” Wise words. Your coda noting that you will keep going as long as you can, is even wiser.
from Brian: I love your selfie–you’re lookin’ great! And thanks for posting–I love reading your post. For instance:
“I came face to face with being an elder last year when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were candidates for President and Vice-President. I looked them up, and found that my oldest son was a little older than both of them. My youngest granddaughter just turned 19. Ouch.”
from Rebecca: Lets keep our eyes on the prize ahead– a more just and joyful human civilization.
I have learned, gained and enjoyed your commentaries over the years and look forward to another 20 years of them. ☮️
Your looking good Dick
Fr Harry
I am also confronted with my being, like you, our ninth decade. I lean on you for encouragement that years means something, but not a lot, I too had heart surgery, a triple bypass, three years ago next month. I snuck by sans a valve replacement, but the surgeon did all the rest and I spent about a month in rehab. I have a lot to be thankful for, starting with the advances in medical science that made our course corrections possible. Garrison Keillor continually reminds me of how being 83 (I’m a kid until March when I will land on that number) is not all bad. His writing is simple and effective. His work still inspires me, as it has done since 1994. I recently posted on Facebook a brief quotation from one of his recent “Substack” pieces (I recommend subscribing). He writes: “Gratitude. This is a good strategy, especially during the reign of America’s first utterly corrupt president. Pay him mind, and he will wear you out and make you feel hopeless about the country. And I choose not to be. I am 10 years older than my grandfathers…our country is in the throes of awful cruelty and we the grateful must rise up and defeat it.” Thanks, Garrison – and Dick – for telling us to keep our chins up and do everything we can to resist where a malignant narcissist is trying to take us.
Greetings of the Season, Dick. I especially appreciate your reminder that keeping our democracy and caring for everyone in our human community is up to all of us. I’ve been asking acquaintances who uses “woke” as a pejorative, “Was Jesus Woke?”
I tried to attach my sister’s first contribution to the project, but I’m not technically woke enough. Here’s a verbal description of the image–it features a smiling Jesus surrounded by an ethnically diverse group of children. She’s working on a more inclusive version featuring Elijah, Confucius, Buddha, an Islam representation, Alice Paul (and/or Jane Addams), Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Jesus.
P.S. I think your grasp of social justice and your memory of political and economic history more than compensate for a one-time lapse in remembering three randomly generated words.
Well, I wish I could be as confident about America’s future as other commentators are. First off, we are constantly told a rather one-sided, pleasant history of America. The history of the real America takes some digging or luck in what you read. For example, did you know that Charles Lindbergh, yes our Lindbergh, twice led a coalition to Nazi Germany to ask how that government could be replicated, at least in part, in America? Lindbergh was an ardent supporter of eugenics, a seudo-science theory that white people were genetically superior to all other races. Though eugenics may have started in Enland, American philosophers were it’s strongest supporters. Hitler’s government adopted eugenics as justification as you might expect. Lindbergh and followers also demanded that Roosevelt surrender on Germany’s terms when Hitler’s Germany declared war on America. Fortunately, Roosevelt ignored that advice.
But these are just a couple of examples, there are many others (like holding on to slavery for forty years after all of western Europe ended it). To really understand America, we must balance the good, which we hear about constantly, with the not-so-good. It’s that balance that might lead to a better America.
I could really relate to your comments regarding aging. They elicited a happy chuckle!
I can attest to that report in the Star Tribune. When I had an endoscopy in November, two of the nurses were Phippino, the anesthesiologist was black, the surgeon was Middle Eastern, and there were others with accents from I don’t know where. Of the dozen or so people involved in my care that day, only two were white and “looked like me.” Where would we be without immigrants and minorities in Healthcare and many other segments of our workforce?!
And I have to say, during the whole experience, I was treated with kindness and respect and was never apprehensive about the quality of care.