Piling Up

This blog is a commentary on life and current events of a person of my age, as well as the aging process. I will be 79 in less than 5 weeks. The pandemic caused life changes and routine shifts. Now that things are loosening up on that front, I am finding going back to normal unsatisfactory.

I want to keep meeting my SCORE clients on Zoom. I want to avoid travel to countless Panera’s and Starbuck’s. I want to avoid the wear and tear on the car as well as the expense of gas and maintenance. I want to save time taken to travel to and from face-to-face meetings. I want to retain the focus I have in Zoom meetings. The client benefits. I remain productive and efficient, so we all benefit.

When the pandemic started, working over Zoom seemed very odd. Now it doesn’t. The statistics of my work with SCORE have doubled, more than doubled using the electronic supports. Why ditch those benefits with face-to-face meetings?

Rocky is mostly homebound. He no longer drives. He still needs a state photo ID and Illinois has a Homebound ID card available. The Illinois Secretary of State staff has been super good at helping, but it relies on electronic image transmissions. I’m not good at that. I finally got Rocky to invest some time in this and maybe today we will finally complete the application process. I started in October of 2021. Six months later we remain at this point in the process.

Comcast cable has become unreliable in our home. Their internet failed two or three times every day. The monthly bill is up to $167 with no premium services and basic channels only. I have bought the new T-Mobile 5G service. It costs $50 per month and will drive both of our computers and an I-Pad, plus streaming TV programming. I have installed the HUB gadget to the TV. It is still driven by the Comcast modem. The T-Mobile modem is driving my computer. Still need to install its support for Rocky’s computer, then cut the Comcast cable and learn how to support TV streaming with the T-Mobile device. Meanwhile I am still paying for Comcast.

The weather is warming up and the car’s AC is needing major repairs. I don’t want to pay for that repair until other mechanicals are repaired/replaced. It is a matter of priority. But driving with no AC is unpleasant in hot weather. We will just have to do that. Meanwhile, I still have to figure out how to pay for the other repairs on the car.

All of this car stuff is moot with high gas prices. We cannot afford more than one tank of gas per month. So, repairs can wait while the car is driven less than 50 miles per week.

Rental lease on the condo was scheduled to increase $20 per month in March or April. The leasing company is deducting the old amount from my checking account. I was worried that we will be considered late in payment or in arrears. Called the leasing company and they checked our account. So far the rent has not gone up, we are current, and all is well. I feel shaky trusting this communication but that’s all I can do. Driving to their office would cost in gas what the rental increase is. So I await repercussions and wonder if the rental increase will ever, actually, take place?

We are receiving senior citizen frozen meals from the county. They are small, good and healthy. Best of all they are free; 10 meals per week with pickup scheduled bi-weekly. A friend is doing the pickup for me even though it is from a county we don’t live in. Not sure our county has this program.

Medical tests are time consuming and costly, mostly unknown deductibles. So we avoid them as much as we can. Keeps life simple, don’t you know? Same with some prescriptions. Annual deductibles are now $200 per person and scary. Still, we get the prescriptions filled, just not on time.

Walking from our apartment to the elevator, then down into the garage and to the car takes energy. I get oxygen starved so sit for a while behind the wheel once in the car. Gasp for breath for 2 minutes or so. Then start the car and begin our errands. Returning to the apartment from the garage is more exhausting because now we are also lugging the purchases up to our unit. I sit for 5 minutes to recover my breath and stamina.

These are the current events of my aging life. This post today is a commentary on my aging. The picture painted is not supposed to be ugly or rosy. It is just the truth of the matter and seems overwhelming at times.

There are other matters as well, like parties, family gatherings, graduation ceremonies, birthdays and anniversaries. Scheduling these, actually attending, and maintaining adequate oxygen levels all become more demanding.

If I sound bewildered from time to time, all of the above is why. No sympathy required. Just recognition that our parents didn’t tell us everything we would experience in life. Most of that comes from our own discovery.

The title of this post is 'Piling Up.' Now you see why.

May 12, 2022

 

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