Longevity 8/19/22

It’s all about perspective. I remember my wife and I selling our house and moving into our apartment at the tail end of 2014. We moved into a townhouse/apartment complex that doesn’t refer to itself as a 55+ community, it just is a 55+ community. You know the signs. No more mowing lawns, no more hauling your trash and recycling to the top of the driveway, no more shoveling snow off your front steps, no more front steps. Everything with multiple stories (like a townhouse) has an internal elevator. Just don’t call it “adult living” or anything remotely close to that, because that implies one step from assisted living, which is one step from the nursing home, which is one step from…ahh forget it. Anyhow, shortly after moving into our “not 55+ complex” we went to a housewarming party for all the residents (it was brand new at the time) in the “clubhouse.” We arrived fashionably late so as not to seem too eager and Iupon taking a step inside, gasped and whispered to one another, “these people are f’ing old.” Only we didn’t say “f’ing.” The point was, what did we look like to them? F’ing old, just like everyone else. And, that friends, is what they call perspective. Look at a lot of the acts still filling arenas and concert halls, Elton John, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, The Stones and, of course, The Who. They’re not old, right? They’re cool (or at least they were in the ‘70’s). John seized upon the Who’s line from “My Generation,” “Hope I die before I get old,” and the rest just fell into place.

Our other idea involved the continuing Covid crisis. As you are likely aware, the coronavirus is kinda like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator, “I’ll be back!” Or to borrow a phrase from “Jaws,” “Just when you thought it was safe to go back…” I can hear you all thinking, “enough with the movie references” (notice that in my imagination everybody speaks like a New York Jewish person). So let’s move on. If you are anything like John or me (who are not very much alike) you have likely let your Corona guard down. How many of you still put a mask on when you enter a grocery store? How many of you pull your mask back up after you finish your popcorn and soda at the movies? How many of you still go to the movies? Really? Not even for Top Gun Maverick??? So many people we know have caught the virus for the first (or even second ) time. But relax, the government came to the rescue and offered every family a bunch of free Covid tests. So what would you do if you had an excess number of tests? You might use them for every reason imaginable. And for things you didn’t even imagine (after all, that's why you have us). So we hope you have no more contact with the virus and if you don’t, then we’ll stop doing virus-related comics. Except for next week, when we unveil Part 2 of our two-part Coronavirus comic mini-series. Until then stay well and stay safe and enjoy the end of the summer. See you next week with two new ones.

Andy and John