Home

Reunion
The 55th
The 50th
The 45th
The 40th
The 30th photo
Reunion Committee

Class of 1962
In Memory
Contact Us

Mason City Area
Globe Gazette
Live WeatherCam
About Mason City
Map of Mason City
About Clear Lake
MC Government
MC Schools
Visit Mason City
Music Man Square
Key Historic Events
Interesting Data

From Bob Hickling, on his Birthday

Well, gang, today is the big 6-0 for me.  I thought maybe I should do some sort of whole life retrospective.  Not that I'm planning to kick the bucket soon, just thinking that writing it at 60 would probably be more lucid than one done at 70 or 80.  :-)  But then I decided I'd rather nap instead.  I think what they say is true.  Turning 40 is the worst.  When you turn 50, a day or two later, you can't remember that it happened.  Now at 60, I almost forgot that today was the day....  It's even more difficult now that I'm settling into a retired life rhythm.  Each week is 6 Saturdays and a Sunday.  Keeping track of the day of the week is hard enough, much less the day of the year.

So instead of a retrospective, I just decided to do a top 10 list...

=========================================================================

Top 10 reasons to live a longer life:

10. Ya gotta love those grand-babies

9.  There are a lot more class reunions to go.  The 45th in only a couple
    more years

8.  We're healthier and more lively than our folks were at this age (this
    may be contested)

7.  There are too many jokes you haven't heard yet, and your friends now
    have more time to tell them

6.  If you want, you can even start a second career

5.  Or you can just play in case you didn't get enough of that back
    in the old neighborhood

4.  It seems to be OK to speak what's on your mind with a lot less
    filtering (now it's wisdom, not just running off at the mouth)

3.  You get to move and actually live someplace you always wanted to
    live rather than being tied to where the work was

2.  You have time to play with all those toys you have but never had time
    for (assuming the spouse didn't secretly include them in a garage
    sale in the past few years)

And of course

Uhhh....

1.  .... I forget ....

 Oh, yes.  I gotta stick around to collect on all that money I paid into Social Security.  ... What? ... They cancelled the program?

......  OK.  Then maybe I'll collect on all that money I paid into Social Security ... from the welfare system ....  Ya know, I've been thinking that when I start drawing Social Security in two more years I might have them deposit it into a separate account.  Then if they stop paying Social Security, I'll start paying my income tax from that account.  I'll just write them a rubber check and tell them that they will have to hold the check till the balance in that account comes up to snuff.  :-) 

See what I mean?  You didn't need all that.  But it's wisdom now.... 

By the way, I didn't tell you all that before did I?

Bob

Once there was a little bird who forgot to fly south for the Winter.  (Maybe it was over 60 in bird years...)  It got colder and colder and things to eat became impossible to find.  One day the little bird was so cold and hungry he just sat on the ground and started to freeze up.  Just when everything was starting to go blank, a cow came by and dropped a great big cow pie on him.  It was really warm and steamy, and the little bird came out of his near frozen condition and looked up at the sky and realized that he had nearly died.  He was so happy to be alive he began singing.  Just then a wolf came by and heard the bird singing. The wolf snatched up the little bird and ate him.

The morals of the story are:

o He who drops a cow pie on you is not necessarily your enemy.
o He who pulls you out of the s..tuff is not necessarily your friend.
o When you're up to your neck in .. stuff, whatever you do, don't sing.

Did I tell you that one before????