231004 A Few Thoughts

I was thinking about my life this morning and where I have lived. A little bit of mathematical thinking and I came up with this, I have spent 51 years in Missouri, 10 years in California and 11 years in the navy. Of those 11 years 4 were spent in Millington, Tennessee (sort of like a foreign country for a yankee in the south). 7 years all over the western pacific to places like the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Guam Hawaii and Singapore. After Singapore, we were headed for Australia, but 80 miles short of the equator we were turned around and headed back to the coast of Vietnam. No one seemed to know why. I sure would have loved to see Australia. Not only Australia, but crossing the equator would have meant getting the invitation to meet King Neptune, the god of the deep seas. After the humiliating initiation I would have earned my shelback card for having crossed the equator. That would have been a treasure for me. I made 2 cruises on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and 1 on the Enterprise (the aircraft carrier, not the starship Enterprise.) I enjoyed being in the navy.

Sunday last, I headed over to Walmart for a quick purchase at 6:15 in the morning. I was out of there by 6:30 and as I turned north, I saw a full moon, brighter than any I have ever seen. It was surrounded by a crystal blue sky. I was nearly breathless as I eyed its stunning beauty.

One last thing here, I discovered in elderly rest homes in Saint Louis and in Ash Grove the elderly patients begin to lose their sense of taste. The only things they taste are salt and sugar. Joyce’s uncle William only wanted to eat salty soup. An old woman Joyce knew and saw frequently when she was spending time with her mother and having lunch with her. There was a woman at the table who when served her lunch would spread strawberry syrup over everything, no matter if it was fried chicken or tender beef. So what’s the point here? The point is I am now losing my sense of taste. No matter what I eat, it has little taste unless I put more salt or sugar on it. I hadn’t used either of those condiments for more than a decade until now. My doctor has told me for years that my sodium level (salt in my blood) has always been low. There may be a different story on my next wellness exam because I am pouring more salt onto my food.