September Song? Reflections on Nearing the Age of 70

Above: Weimar refugees Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill. Lenya didn't deserve Weill but she DID manage to effectively keep his work alive after his death by endlessly performing it and starting a foundation, etc.

Weill was one of the culprits who wrote the aching classic "September Song" ( along with lyricist Maxwell Anderson) about how as one ages, "One hasn't got time/ for the waiting game." Oh, that song HURTS as it becomes

more and more a reality...

(Here is link to song as done by its original performer, Walter Huston, for the 1930's musical
Knickerbocker Holiday, which was pretty much undistinguished except for "September Song" --the plot was an absurd mish mash of themes about dictatorial power with a big pot shot at Franklin Roosevelt-- maybe it was done about the time FDR tried to pack the Supreme Court, I would have to investigate that).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkWn4--RmEk

Above, sidewalk chalk message from the

West Side artist Honschar, whom I have just

posted about.


I am retired, sort of. I keep blogging away and doing 

volunteer work and soon will most likely be doing 

a part time job as well ( for peanuts, as at my age

and having been out of work for some time nobody

is going to hire me for anything that matches my

real qualifications.)


That's why it's so good to get in touch with someone 

like the author Dennis Smith, whose new Wavepeg

Firefighter social media venture is being launched 

now ( Sept 8 is the official launch date).


Dennis is never one to let the grass grow under his

feet ....


I mean, I can complain about my friends dying

off or going into nursing homes in terrible shape,

but this is nothing compared to what someone

like Dennis has been through with his Sept. 11 

experiences, ( endless funerals among other things)

--and then the work on "the pile" which has done him 

harm like so many others-- but is not keeping him

from springing back into the fray with Wavepeg.

Above: A Good Motto for Dennis Smith..the

FDNY rig for Ladder 7 says " We Can Do That"

on its windscreen, and they sure can, or will do 

their damnedest to....Firefighters are, of course,


an inspiration to us all




I like so many of the things Dennis has done, from

his books to his philanthropy to being Chairman 

or deeply involved in all kinds of projects, from the

Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club to being a founder

of the NYC Fire Museum ( more about this in a

bit).

Like so many other people I know ( often I find this

out as a surprise about them), I have had mental issues--which

we call broadly "Mental Illness" ( I have never

been in the "Looney Bin", but I have lived 15 

months in a NYC Homeless Shelter and that was

close enough. Yes, I take tranks and anti-anxiety

pills (along with the Flomax and my thyroid

replacement hormone I have needed ever since

having my cancerous thyroid gland removed).


Ah yes, Kips Bay...and its Boys and Girls Club

(former building now a private school).


Here I have a link with Dennis he doesn't know

about-- a guy I was in a room with at the shelter
( along

with five other men) was a hustly type who made

contact with a man who did work at the Kips Bay

Boys and Girls Club, which was nearby.


This man ( whom I heard referred to as "an Indian"

--Native American or Asian? Don't know) gave

the kids at Kips Bay lessons on " all the things

you can do with a simple screwdriver" ( you can

imagine what these darling boys and girls did at

home next , to their parents' dismay, with this new

found knowledge).

Above: Photo of me taken at the NYC Fire

Museum (thanks again, Dennis) and thanks

to FDNY Lt. John Kenny, Ret., for taking the 

picture -- and giving me information-- he  volunteers

there with all these other great FDNY guys.


I used this for a Facebook profile pic for a while

but got tired of the ribbing along the lines of

"Larry Kreger took an axe " ( and gave his

mother 40 whacks, you know what I mean).


So at 69 ( 70 in November) people never stop 


telling me "You don't look it" ( Two good

reasons for this-- the splendid dentures I have

from the NYU Dental Clinic and the fact that

I have the skin disease Rosacea and have to

put a cream on my face for that every day.

"Moisturizing!"-- as Craig Ferguson would say.


And I have my father's hair, which did not 

turn completely grey late into his 70's, when

his lifelong compulsive flight from Physical

Fitness and and workaholic ( and at times,

alcoholic) tendencies caused his heart to 

give out.


( I have , as a former fat kid who lost weight 

in college and have been into Physical Fitness

and sports/swimming ever since-- keep back-

sliding...I am on my newest diet, and YES I

do eat KALE.)


"Excelsior"-- Onwards and Upwards ( NY

State's Great Motto)


Easier said than done, but then, I have people

--including, as I have noted, 

- as "role models" and examples.


Of course, losing so many friends ( and it still

happens) and not having any kids of my own

to reassure me, ( or maybe make me rue the 

day I had them) , I keep in touch with old

close friends mostly via the internet these days.


Solitude and meditation are GREAT,  but that

knife-in-heart lonely condition is to be avoided,

certainly. I am still on it now with new leads

to new friends, and, pragmatically, younger 

friends..


Like so many of us, I remain " a work in 

progress"


And anyway, 70 is the new 40 these days (ha

ha, don't we old timers wish!)


Excelsior! Anyway....And Best Wishes to my

Fellow Early-Boomers who are going through

so many of the same experiences I am.