I Was Lucky Enough to Survive (1)

Yes, there certainly is a lot to be thankful, from beautiful sunsets to delicious pastries like the ones pictured above.

At the age of 70 -- 71 in two weeks -- I look back over my life and see three events during which I could easily have died, and yet I somehow survived. Despite these three events, I am able to be grateful for the sunlight in the morning -- or even for the rain. I can still enjoy a good cup of coffee, a wonderful book ("So many books, so little time"), the company of my wife, great music, watching the innocence of children playing, seeing the beauty of flowers, remembering some of the incredible things I have done in my life and the incredible places I have been (lots more about that in subsequent posts), and the amazing variety of human personalities I have been exposed to. And I reflect that had each of the three events I referred to at the beginning of this paragraph gone slightly differently, I would not be around to enjoy all the things I enjoy.

The first of these events chronologically was not dramatic at all, and I have only one fleeting memory of it. When I was very young (I was born in 1938) I got pneumonia. This was either near the end or after World War II. My father was a physician and was on the staff of the hospital where I was admitted. I don't know if antibiotics were rationed at that point, but I do know that they were very new and in short supply. Probably because of my father's position in the hospital, I was given antibiotics, without which, I was told later when I was an adult, I would not have lived.

[A note about the photo: Here are some French pastries I found at a patisserie in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. Show me someone who doesn't enjoy food (or have a sense of humor) and I will show you a deficient human being. I love food !

If you want to have fun and enjoy life, go out and get yourself some French Pastry like this. Taste the smooth, creamy custard. Sense the fragrance of the custard and of the fruit. Note the texture of the fruit and its sweetness. Don't just wolf it down. Make eating this pastry an experience to remember. Enjoy it !]