Memoirs of a Life Living

The path to retirement proceeds in stages. First the pros and cons. The supply of money and the cost of living now and in the future. Then the loss of interest in what I was doing. Would I spend the rest of my life rehearsing and replaying the past. Are all adventures of life over for me and is this "ground hog" day all over again. Then the doubts, the sleepless nights, the nightmares of not knowing where I am, feeling lost, going back in time to painful marriage and feeling helpless to external demands by others and circumstance. Finally the intellectual acceptance that all of the rationalizations do not obviate the fact that I don't need more money and the primary purpose of working is gone. Leave it to the children. No, I want it for Kerstin and me. Then I don't like many patients and oh I do like some. Then I think I am helping some people, especially children. Then I give up surgery because of tenosynovitis of thumbs and wrists. Then I realize I am not reading ve...

10/20/18 Copy of e-mail to my daughter on the event of her leaving Plato's Cave: Dearest Child You are becoming a Lack! I say that as a compliment, I think. My grandfather Benjamin is looking down now and seeing you blossom like a flowered bud exposed to spring and basking in the warmtnh of the sun. Yes truths are painful and if we open our hearts, provoke intense emotion. May I ask (suggest) that you read Plato's "The Cave". Sp many other great books of literature to put the present into perspective but two of the greatest are Anna Karenina and A Tale of Two Cities. I am suggesting you read early literature so that you are not only exposed to truyths but to the eternity of suffering. All 3 are also fun to read. If we re going to speak about America we must note that America was founded in racism and bigotry. The early settlers were either criminals or people seeking to escape from religious persecution. Regardless they all wanted to create their own space so the...