On Aug. 19, 1988, then-President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5847, declaring Aug. 21 as National Senior Citizen\u2019s Day. This date was proclaimed World Senior Citizen\u2019s Day by the United Nations in 1990.<\/p>\n
To mark the occasion, I have here a new series of sonnets with aging as the central theme. I call it \u201cT.O.A.S.T.\u201d or \u201cTimeworn Old Age Senior Tales\u201d for Senior Citizen\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
With this, I move away from my \u201cFood For Thought\u201d series of sonnets. It is now toast. A few may surface from time to time. I\u2019ll present a few slices or sonnets at a time (kind of as Food for Thought, as a matter of fact) to go with your coffee, iced tea, or some other beverage as you peruse the newspaper.<\/p>\n
I am approaching 70 next month and have noticed substantial short-term memory loss and other signs of senile dementia moving into my gray matter. I have written several poems about various aspects of the aging process in the past few months and will continue to do so now in the autumn of my years. As I approach the witless winter of my life, please enjoy the poems as you and I both reflect on some of the halcyon highlights, humorous, and hapless aspects of growing old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I vaguely recall a bad guy in some cowboy Western movie (or was it a murder mystery?), who looked at his victim and said, \u201cYou are toast.\u201d Here is another kind of T.O.A.S.T. that you can use as a \u201ctoast\u201d to Father Time as we all proceed in time\u2019s ultimate direction.
\n\u00a0
\nSenior Citizen Time Space Curvature Trilogy No. 1
\n(So Come Taste Sonnet Connolly Tales Submitted Comments Today)<\/p>\n
Senior Moments Sour and Sweet
\n\u201cSweet moments I live in memory still I can\u2019t forget when you were so close to me.\u201d
\n\u2014Hughes\/Thompson – 1947)
\n\u00a0
\nAh yes those Senior moments don\u2019t tend to linger
\nthat momentary pause when you just can\u2019t think of
\nthe rest of what you were going to say – a real zinger
\nmaybe it will come back as random thoughts sink.
\nMaybe some Senior moments will come and disappear
\nas you stumble through the finality of the aging process
\nMaybe memory is coming back next week next month
\nnext year but its coming with less and less success.
\nOh now you remember as you eat that ice cream cone
\nhow hot it was when you went to visit some friends
\ntalking eye to eye with people before you had a cell phone
\nor how that story began or what happens when it ends.
\nSo senior moments come and go some sour some sweet
\nI hope I remember your name the next time we meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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