Musings
~ by Mark Blackwell
age and memory
They say that getting old beats the alternative. Who are“ they” anyway? I don’ t have any idea. But I reckon that will just have to be accepted, mainly due to a scarcity of reports from the“ great beyond.” However, the idea of a great beyond makes me think it might be like Brown County.
Maybe it is kinda like going to sleep and waking up by a little stream in a shady holler. The weather is perfect and there ain’ t any ticks or chiggers or skeeters, or none of that sort of orneriness. And you see before you a majestic ridge populated with a variety of mature trees and a winding path leading to the crest. And you set out to climb that ridge to see what is beyond.
The ridge is high, but the air is sweet and the path is easy. After stopping to smell the flowers, pick ripe blackberries, and taking time to enjoy the call of a finely tuned wood thrush, you arrive at the top. And there, across another deep holler, you see another tall ridge. The view is spectacular.
On you go, through more shady hollers with beautiful brooks and more high, verdant
ridges, enjoying a perfect endless afternoon( or morning or evening. I’ ll leave the preference up to the reader’ s imagination). The path seems endless.
As Abe Martin might say.“ It’ s sum travelin’ ta git ta the other side.” But, somehow, you know the path ultimately leads to“ Peaceful Valley.”
If you live long enough you wind up getting old. And while old age has its share of downsides, like all the stuff that was your grandparent’ s favorite discussion topics. You know, stuff like: Whatever they were currently suffering from including but not limited to, aches, pains, undiagnosable symptoms, and all the ways that“ things” are going to hell. But there are some good things about being old. I count retirement right up at the top of the list. Retirement gives you two of the best things a person can have: freedom from other folks telling you what to do, and time. Being retired, you gain a minimum of forty hours a weeks, more if you factor in commuting.
So, what do you do with all of this newfound time? Anything you want to.
Hobbies are always a good bet for folks that worry about idle hands. I know folks that like to fool around in their wood shops and folks that spend time on cars— sometimes for fun, and sometimes just to keep them going.
34 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2026