Sunday, June 25, 2023 early afternoon

It was an impulse decision. “When I get back to Missouri, I’ll get a personalized license plate.”

Why? Oh, why not? I’m old and it will be easier to remember it.

I chose “JE SUIS,” French for “I AM.”

It’ll be a simple proclamation that, by golly, I am still here.

I AM

I am my good, my bad, my ugly, and my ridiculous.

I am my forgetfulness, my tendency to drive slower than the speed limit, and my occasional turn into a one-way street in unfamiliar places.

If you see me behind the wheel with my head bopping, I am happy because an old rock song is making me smile and feel decades younger.

If you are in a hurry, I am going to drive you nuts when I let people stuck on side streets ahead of me because, they, too, have places to go and things to do.

If I don’t zip forward immediately when red turns to green, I am distracted

…wondering why the panhandler can’t get a job

…judging the merits of various landscaped yards

…changing the radio station

…changing regular glasses for sunglasses

…looking for a tissue because the high pollen count is making my eyes itch and water, and thus, I am visually impaired

…wonder why the person ahead of me with an Alaska or Hawaii license plate is here in Columbia.

When I buzz along the blue highways and gray interstates, I am grateful that I’m relatively healthy and still driving…for now, at least.

I am fearful of losing my independence and ability to drive, not to mention all the other crap that can happen when we can no longer “take care of ourselves.”

I am resigned to accept the inevitable, but I am not happy about it. At times, I find myself plotting a hissy fit.

But for now, I am. I just am, and it’s pretty interesting and wonderful most days.

Je suis reconnaissant pour ce que je peux fair audjourd’hui.

…