Reading Length: Grab ‘n’ Go Coffee
Kristin Reporting!
Deprived of my own love interest, I've been paying attention to and noticing couples around the world, both young and old. Young love is almost always sweet, and it sometimes makes me sad to see it because my sweetheart is not here to enjoy the day with me. It makes me jealous.
[Davin Interjection: For my own part, I’m really glad to be unattached and not bogged down by any of these emotional ties. Wherever I am in the world, I’m completely happy on my own. I don’t have to worry about missing someone, or that someone may be pining away for me back home.]
But, on this ship, I get to see a lot of old love, and for the most part, I don't like what I see. It is rare for an old couple to show a lot of affection for each other. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, because it does. I’ve seen many couples that look happy, but there is at least 2 sour faced grumpy couples for every 1 happy old couple. I really think its more like 1 in 5...
In general, I think the old are less satisfied with life because of the pain and suffering it brings them. Most are feeble, many find it difficult to get around, some have their hands or body parts shake which makes even eating difficult. Some of them don't even seem to enjoy the shore excursions and it makes me wonder what the hell they are doing here on this cruise?
Likely they never had the opportunity before. What's certain is that it is very sad. What is even sadder is to see these decrepit people sitting across from each other and eating in silence. Have they truly been together so long that they no longer have anything left to say? Were they always this way, or did they lose something along the way? There is no look of pleasure on their faces, in their expressions, or in their eyes.
Even in young couples it is fairly rare to see two of them alone together interacting with constant smiles, and laughter. They usually show some kind of affection, but most often these days they are on their phones, and they don't have meals together!
It seems to me that there is a lot to having a good relationship. It's not just about doing things for each other and being sensitive and caring for each other's feelings and doing a fair portion of the work. There has to be a foundation of genuine friendship where, when all is said and done, you simply just love the person's personality, and you truly are each others' best friend.
Anyway, that was my random musing about love and relationships!
[Davin Interjection: I don’t know whether the old people are unhappy or not, or whether it has anything to do with their relationship. To be honest, I haven’t really paid that much attention, or tried to judge whether they are enjoying themselves or not (it could also be that some didn’t realize exactly what they were getting themselves in to by going on a long cruise). That being said, I feel a bit sad watching a lot of the old people making their way around the ship. Some of them can barely walk, and most certainly don’t seem to be able to move very quickly. It’s not their fault for getting old– it happens to the best of us, and the worst of us– but it makes me feel sad to think that they were once young and strong, and now they’re only a shadow of what they once were!
Because of my health problems, I have a bit of an unusual perspective on aging. On the one hand I am still young and strong, and in many respects in very good physical shape. On the other hand, in some respects I feel quite weak and impaired. There are actions, such as bending over to pick something off the ground, or looking up at a tall building, that cause me significant difficulty, which would be trivial for even someone in absolutely abysmal physical condition.
The thing about aging is that it comes on slowly, so you probably don’t even realize that your abilities are slipping away. It’s only when you look way back into the past that you realize what you’ve lost. In my case, however, I feel like I can sort of see both sides of the coin at the same time (both young and healthy, and also weak and decrepit). Based on my experience and my observation of the other passengers on the ship, I am no longer entirely convinced that I want to live to be an old man.
Maybe it’s actually better to only live a short time, while you still have most of your physical and mental capabilities, rather than living a long life where you have to experience all of your health and fitness fading away?]
Today was very straightforward. I wrote an email to Scott about my activities yesterday. Then I switched gears and began to update all 10 (or whatever the ridiculous number is) accounts to see who in the family has money and where it is. This is my usual prep for the monthly family bill paying! I also redid Scott’s budget. That is what Scot “pays” me to do– handle his money so he can just not think about it and have his retirement savings silently siphoning away. He doesn’t even realize anything is happening. All he needs to know is what money is in his main account at any given moment. That's all I did today. The monthly accounting is very time consuming.
Oh! For Easter they had an "Egg Drop Competition" and we went to watch. It only lasted about 15 minutes. We thought it was going to be totally stupid, but it turned out to be pretty interesting. Some of the devices were very well thought out scientifically speaking. We recorded it so we can share it with friends and family “someday”.
Tomorrow we will be exploring Taipei!
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