Joe's Birthday

Today is Joe’s birthday. He’s what – 86? Something like that.

Joe is an amiable fellow. He likes to eat, drink, and be merry. He enjoys conversation, and is an excellent party guest.

He has a dark side, I suppose, inasmuch as when he drinks too much, he becomes overly friendly with women – a touchy-feely thing that doesn’t endear him to some female companions – and he can become overly argumentative, even belligerent, with some men-friends. But that’s only when he drinks too much, which isn’t often.

It probably would be a problem more often if Joe were younger, and if his vision were better, and if he could get out to his favorite restaurants and watering holes. Unfortunately, his vision is growing dimmer by the day. Glaucoma.

He’s had the pharmaceutical treatments and surgeries. Nothing has worked particularly well, although there were months where he seemed slightly better, or perhaps the progress of the disease was slowed.

But graphed, it’s a downhill line. He knows it. He broods about it. He feels trapped, mostly, in his home, dependent on friends and family to take him out.

It doesn’t make matters better that his older brother, John, is in a health crisis. John is 91 and going downhill fast in the past months. Diabetes has been John’s problem for years, and at his age...

On the other hand, Joe’s older brother, Fred, is a healthy 97 and still jetting around to see his 93-year-old girlfriend. His new girlfriend, that is. Last year, Fred had a different girlfriend. I think she was too young, though – probably only in her late 80s.

Anyway, today is Joe’s birthday. Happy birthday, Joe!