A Porch Afternoon

Yesterday I spent two hours on the front porch in luscious sun light just sucking up vitamin D and fresh air. This is the first time outside since The Carousel Of Flavor event was downtown in conjunction with the opening of The Time Capsule and the reading of my poem, "Anchored Dreams", for the assemblage of spectators. Little did I realize then just how fragile my physical state of health was. Being clinically "Homebound" is a medical care term which allows medical care to come into your home rather than you go to an office of a doctor. But being homebound, in reality, is a state of mind and physical ineptness, something like, being warehoused as if but a box on a shelf in a warehouse. The human animal was meant to be active from youth until death.

Yesterday was a good day since I got to meet and have a conversation with my neighbor, Fred, from down at Nightingale and Evans. Up till now we acknowledged each other with a distant "hello" as he passed the front of the house with his dog who was always tugging at his leash. The dog's home these days since his tugging got to be too aggressive and Fred's gotten somewhat older. Fred is retired and is a caregiver for his wife, something familiar to our household, as my wife, Connie, is my family caregiver to me. More importantly to living is a good caregiver, even more important than a doctor, even if they do come to your house to see you.

Ronald C. Downie