Day: June 17, 2025

Some people want to live to 100 or longer.
Most of them have no idea what that would entail.
Odds are their minds would be shot with a dementia.
Their bodies would be barely mobile, if at all.
Most likely, they’d look like death walking unless
they were one of the miraculous exceptions.
But living to 100 just wouldn’t be worth the risks.
I write this after having worked with the elderly
for over twenty years and seen the effects of aging.
Even the 90s pose risks of dementia and the loss
of one’s ability to take care of one’s self.
Nursing homes are in the futures of many at 90
unless miraculously they’ve been blessed.
As for me, 85 is my desired expiration date before
I could lose my mind, mobility and independence.
But because I desire what I see as an ideal age
for my departure from this impermanent life,
I’ll probably live longer than I want to and be at
risk of dementia and all manner of debilitations.

Bob Boyd

Been watching YouTube videos of women
arrested for drunk driving and for creating
all manner of disturbances in public.
At first it was surprising to see legions of
mostly young ladies drunk and disorderly.
The novelty was an addictive watch for
a while, unseeming, shocking, surprising.
Then it was sad to see so many lovely
young women getting themselves in so
much unnecessary trouble with the police.
It was worse when they cried and were in
tearful despair, though of their own making.
Still tragic to see their lives had taken such
drastic turns for whatever unclear reasons.
To me, they were a reminder of the many
sad stories in this often disheartening life.
It is my hope that one day all of us will be
in an after world beyond all the sorrows.

Bob Boyd

Many people have floated in and out
of my life though these 80 years.
Some unforgettable for all of my life.
Most hardly memorable. Some I’ve
forgotten, strangers for a moment.
So many I cannot add them all up.
Some in Europe. Some in the
Philippines. Most in parts of the US.
A constant stream of people. Most
cordial. A few I wish I’d never met.
I wonder if when I die, the river of
people will start flowing again. if so
will all the people/spirits be stellar
or will they be the same good and
not so good – unchanged in death.

Bob Boyd