I am old. I have been retired now for ten years and three months. Can I still claim to be a teacher? Well, of course! A teacher remains a teacher even after death. It’s like not being able to undo the fact that you are someone who was once born alive.
My body is old. I have seven incurable diseases and conditions, maybe eight. And I have survived skin cancer twice so far. Arthritis has been with me since age 18. The fiftieth anniversary of my diagnosis occurs in the Spring of 2025. Diabetes has been with me since the year 2000. Diabetes has caused eczema and diabetic depression. It may also have contributed to my glaucoma. I have had severe allergies since childhood. That caused bouts of chronic bronchitis which has caused COPD in my lungs. I also have hypertension, with my high blood pressure sending me to the emergency room at least once. And I had chronic prostatitis for a decade which permanently enlarged my prostate. I am battling prostatitis again now, having had a difficult week including an adverse reaction to antibiotics. I could go into further detail, but I have already given murderers numerous ways to murder me and make it look like natural causes. Good thing nobody reads this blog.
Oh, and I have symptoms of possible Parkinson’s Disease.
So, being retired has its drawbacks. Mainly because you mostly have to be old and ready to die to retire. And by the Texas Teachers’ Retirement System’s reckoning, I have lived five years longer in retirement than I was supposed to. Danged old teachers who don’t die when they’re supposed to!
Catch a Falling Star 
Skyscapes of the Cloudy Mind
I admit it. Even though I collect pictures of sunrises to glory in the fact that I still have another day of life in this world, I rarely snap a picture of the cloudless sunrise. It is very possible that this has something to do with what ultimately gives life value and makes it worthwhile to live one more day.
If there is no pattern, no color-changes, no contrast, no variation… then why bother? And this doesn’t only apply to living your life. It applies to taking pictures of the sky too. Solid blue or solid yellow are about as interesting as a minimalist painting. (Have you ever seen the big beige squares and red squares that fill entire walls of the Dallas Art Museum? Like a picture of a polar bear in a fierce blizzard or an extreme close-up of the side of a tomato.)
Yes, sunshine and happiness are all well and good… but you don’t get a satisfactory skyscape without some clouds in it. In fact, rain clouds provide the most fascinating patterns and colors. What would the picture be without a little drama splashed here and there to make a center of interest or a counterpoint to the happy ending? They say that variety is the spice of life. And when they say that they probably mean cayenne pepper rather than parsley or oregano. If that’s not what they mean, then why the hell did we bring food into the discussion?
So, I am thinking, there have to be clouds. (Notice, I said “clouds”, not “clowns”, because… according to the song, there “ought to be clowns”, not “have to be clowns”.)
It is true that clouds can mean sadness… that the rain is coming, that your vision is obscured, that something has come between you and God’s eye. But without clouds, the sky would be plain and boring. Better to burn bright and explode in a short amount of time than to linger over a plain pale blue.
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Filed under clowns, commentary, foolishness, humor, photo paffoonies
Tagged as clouds, humor, metaphor, sunrises