Author: lyftingmeup

I am writing this 12 days before my seventy-fifth birthday. I have reasonable confidence that I will be there for this turn in to my own run at a century. Three weeks ago today I was admitted to “Good Sam” as it is nicknamed by the hospital personnel who work there. To say I got to the emergency room “just in time” might not be an exaggeration. I was fortunate that the ER Doc got me started in the right direction with the right antibiotics. By that evening I found out that I had sepsis originating from my left foot.…

Yesterday I drove out to Cherry Creek State Park. I love taking that drive through neighborhoods and back roads. In doing so I go by a number of schools. Quite a few grade schools, a middle school and one high school. All of them had signs celebrating the last day of school. On my return I was given the treat of watching kids pour out of a grade school where joy filled the air. I was transported back to that incredible feeling of freedom. Three months of swimming pools, bike riding, playing until dark, and in my home growing up,…

I heard my first Meadowlark this week. The call took me through seven decades of remembering their most distinctive eight note song. My parents built a house in 1955 on the very edge of the high desert prairie on the east edge of Pueblo. My back yard went all the way to Kansas. It remained that way for seven years. Then, new houses began to erase this world that was filled with: lizards, rabbits, snakes, and tarantulas, to name a few. On any summer morning our backyard fence would become a perch for those yellow breasted opera singers. I have…

There is a new family in our neighborhood. We moved “Out Here” in 2017, and now live on the far edge of the metro area. To our east is Standley Lake, a beautiful large lake completely surrounded by open space. I often drive by it twice a day… it never disappoints. There are many routes that bring me to this enclave called Whisper Creek. I jokingly say if Walt Disney designed a suburb, I live in it—clean, sculpted, efficient and very close to nature in every direction. My favorite route home is the longest way. I go north and drive…

Sometime after the end of WWII, a very generous Doctor donated his three story mansion on the corner of 13th St and York, to a fledgling group of Alcoholics Anonymous. The purpose was to create a home base where alcoholics could gather to get and stay well. Nearly 78 years later its presence is felt 18 hours a day—everyday . Today I went to a memorial service there for a physician who sobered up August 16, 1987. I beat him by 15 days as my AA birthday is August 1, 1987. On the second floor of that grand old mansion,…

“Bumper Karts at Costco” The emergence of the GIANT MEGA SUPER STORE shopping experience has lowered prices, created gross over buying, and raised the stress of “going shopping” to a level of low-grade combat. Last Saturday I made the mistake of thinking I could “stop by” Costco to pick up a few things. After circling the parking lot twice, MK suggested that we punt. Then a parking spot opened up—a blessing from the parking gods. The inside of the store was more chaotic than the outside. I loved the midway at the Colorado State Fair. I would head straight for…

Unpacking from a 45 day, 7,350 mile, 16 state and 13 bed road trip, requires more than doing laundry and hanging clothes back up. It’s the unpacking of the dozens of encounters, scenes, meals, Buc—Eees, and conversations I had along the way. There is one particular unexpected morning I can’t put away in a convenient memory box. We had driven nearly 800 miles from California to our half way point in Las Cruces, NM. We had two days to make it to Stephenville, Texas, where grandson Mattias was going to be part of his spring jazz concert honoring Duke Ellington.…

I have a date with my granddaughter Zoe tomorrow afternoon. This will involve no ice cream or chicken nuggets. We will not be watching a movie or going on a drive. We will be watching… The Masters fourth and final round on my ridiculous big screen in the basement. Zoe, to my surprise, went out for golf this year at Arvada West. Other than Mini Golf she had no prior golfing experiences. She told me her coach recruited her. Well, she loves it. I secretly laughed when she told me she thought it was great. “Wait until you have hit…

The exponential speed with which my world has moved, from my Rand McNally Atlas to an internal GPS in my 2020 BMW, sometimes boggles my mind. My car responds to my voice. I just say things like “BMW call my grandson Miko” or, “Find the nearest Starbucks” and presto—zingo I am on a phone call or I’m in dreaded drive through. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I am living out a Star Trek episode. Today I want to talk about my “way too smart GPS”. I call it a her because speaks to me in…