The thoughts continue; is this part of being in one’s sixties?

We (personally speaking) have become accustomed to losing our cats to wildlife—goodbye Jackson; you were rude and demanding and bossy and domineering, and you didn’t listen when I told you there would be consequences for ignoring Kitty Curfew.

We are now accustomed to words like “atmospheric river”, “rain events”, “phone tree”, “hydrate”, and “interface”. These things used to be “storm”, “rain”, “switchboard”, “drink”, and “talk”.

We have become accustomed to appliances and electronics giving up at around six years, if we are fortunate to have them last that long.

We are accustomed to being told that things “aren’t reparable”, that there are no longer parts or people who know how to fix things.

We have become accustomed to putting our own groceries on the conveyer belt, bagging them ourselves using bags we brought from home, and schlepping them out to our vehicles. In some cases we actually do our own scanning rather than place them on a conveyer belt. (Remember when grocery checkers had to announce the price of every single item?)

We have become accustomed to everyone being a photographer with cameras available at all times, along with instant gratification of seeing the photos. Remember when we didn’t know how our photos would turn out until we picked them up at a store a week or two later? (I was considered a bit odd because I always had 2 cameras with me—one with black and white film, the other with color, or occasionally with slide film. I might still be considered a bit odd—just be polite.)

In Three Rivers, we have become accustomed to lizards in the house, deer eating many of our plants, coyotes yipping and howling, and turkeys hanging out in the yard.

We have become accustomed to typographical errors, misspellings, and poor grammar, even among those who speak publicly for a living. Nope, it’s not “have went” —it is “have gone”; we don’t “graduate school” —we graduate FROM school; you aren’t “gifted something” —you are GIVEN something, and it isn’t “me and my wife” —it is “my wife and I”.

We have become accustomed to not licking stamps or envelopes, just peeling off backing instead.

We are accustomed to carrying water bottles everywhere (remember drinking fountains?) and wearing seatbelts (remember riding in the bed of a pickup?)

Anyone need a break from all these heavy thoughts? Let’s have another ad for another oil painting.