EXISTENTIAL DREAD: 'TIL DEATH DO US PART

 

BARON AND SELF AT THE CURE

I am getting old enough to know that age is not just a number.  Oh sure, I still run and swim and box and downhill ski and ride my bike, but I am not delusional about my aging.  I know that my life is finite, and my personal aging I have classified as a classic YIN and YANG life scenario.  I live until I die.  Or to put it into a more universal perspective: WE LIVE until WE DIE.

Existential dread?  Hmmm … maybe.  Methinks if such thoughts were continuously tormenting me, then this would be existential dread.  However, until such time of torment, I shall simply refer to it as existential awareness.

Looking around, I cannot help but be existentially aware, as I see others of my folk singer-songwriter ilk in age, certainly not in ability, still hitting the stage.  Still thrumming and strumming and singing are American singer-songwriters KRIS KRISTOFFERSON and BOBBY DYLAN, who are 86 and 79 years old, respectively, and Canadian singer-songwriters GORDON LIGHTFOOT, NEIL YOUNG, and ROBBIE ROBERTSON, who are 84, 77, and 79 years old, respectively.

Sadly, my all-time favorite, IAN TYSON, just recently exited stage left when he died at 89.

Please note, dear reader, that I dare compare myself to the likes of Kristofferson, Dylan, Lightfoot, Young, Robertson, and Tyson because we are all plotted along, in linear fashion, the same singer-songwriter continuum, left to right in terms of quality, left to right in terms of my Yin-Yang world of life and death.

In my YIN-YANG world, the live folks are YANG; IAN TYSON is YIN.

IAN TYSON BACK IN THE '60S

Enough of this – ‘Tis time for more yang.  Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week:

First up is Lily.  Lovely, lovely, Lily.  Lily is a stand-up comedian who frequents several stages in and around Regina.  She is witty; she is funny; she is ever-efficient and effervescent; she is the fast-on-her-feet host of open mics at THE CURE, a bar in downtown REGINA SK.

LILY

And then comes David, another stand-up comedian marching in my parade.  David is funny, funny, funny and his squeaky-clean stage humor appeals to practically every member of his audience.  David, like Lily, is a regular host at my favorite open mic, THE CURE in downtown Regina.

DAVID

Next marching in my parade is Rebecca, who has an office just down the street from my workplace.  Rebecca is academically brilliant.  This I know for sure -- she was a student in one of the Psychology classes when I was a sessional professor at the University of Regina. Currently, she is very well-known and always a very sought after policy analyst for a national organization.  

REBECCA

Of course, in the spirit of this blog title, EXISTENTIAL DREAD: ‘TIL DEATH DO US PART, I just had to draw my publisher’s mom, who just recently parted.

MY PUBLISHER'S MOM

The last marcher is my childhood friend, Larry, the TEENAGE IDOL and HOCKEY LEGEND of our hometown who, too, just recently departed.  Larry was tall, dark, and Hollywood handsome, a super athlete who played in the Western Hockey League (REGINA PATS) when he was just 15 years old.  In every regard, Larry was THE GUY.

LARRY

And here I am, still YANG in lots of ways.  Actively reflecting on this, for whatever reasons my avocations of hypnotherapy and skiing and writing are slowly but surely transforming into my vocations.  Reflecting on this, as my infirm will wax, my bailiwick of blogs and bluster will wane.   Introspectively, I must close by channeling Satchel Paige:

How old would I be if I didn’t know how old I was?  

I should not really be looking back too much because something existentially dreadful might be gaining on me!