My Life, Economically

I don't know if it's old age or this, but I find myself no longer having to have that. This includes Stephen King novels, a new set of drums (although new cymbals would be nice!), the best guitar and clothes. I was also once crazy about men's fragrances, but the last one I bought was 5 years ago and it's still full.

No, these days I could live very nicely on what income I (we) get and I still get my allowance every month from my wife, Dondra. Sometimes I use it all, sometimes I don't, but it's all I need.

Okay, before y'all say, "Bull-SHIT, Bill", a small caveat: Yes, I do like to look at guitars, and, if the price is cheap enough, I may buy one, but the last one I bought was 3 years ago: my Paul McCartney copy bass. Clothes? Well, yeah. If something wears out, I'll tell Dondra what I need and she picks it up for me, but the last time we did that was last Summer.

My allowance goes mostly for what little bills I incur: Doctor's visits, hospital procedures and meds. I download cheap books onto my Kindle from Amazon and may buy the infrequent used DVD or CD. For birthdays and such, yes, I do order from eBay or Amazon, but there are just a few people to buy for really. Immediate family mostly.

So I wrote all of that to ask you this: If you're my age (63), is this happening with you, too? Don't have to have that special Beany-Baby, or that latest smart phone or (mine is just a normal cell - no bells, no whistles), handbag anymore? Do you still collect stuff?

And another caveat: Our lives aren't the same, are they, my friends? [insert shrug here].

I hate that I can no longer manage my own finances and that I am given so little, when once I could manage a couple of thousand, but if that's the way it is (and it is - I can't make change anymore), then let it be.
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Most of my adult life, people have said I am "multi-talented". Maybe, I don't know - I've just always done the things that I've always wanted to do, and not for recognition. Just because I could. Poorly maybe, but I did them.

However, always first in my life was music, and before I am or was anything else, I am or was a musician. It's the way I speak, write and sometimes - reason. Like Beethoven, my idol, I hope that this will be remembered about me: I tried my best to make people smile for a while and forget their troubles.
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Not a whole lot this time, right readers?

Be that as it may, it is what is travelling through my mind, and I have always written that you will take this journey with me. I appreciate it very much.
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Here once again is Markus Rill with a terrific tune accompanied by The Troublemakers! I wrote in his review I thought he'd been reading my mail. Has he been reading yours as well? His lyrics are dead on, and I can see why folks like the late Townes van Zant, Rosanne Cash and Tom Waits consider him a contemporary.

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Bye for now and please remember the four-footed ones who have no home and are waiting to die due to no fault of their own.

Thanks!

Bill



The Animal Rescue Site

Comments

Margaret said…
Hi Bill,

I'm older than you are, soon turning 67, and I think of it as simplifying life. I enjoy life, but I no longer crave things. I like to buy the odd book or cd, and keep my clothes practically forever. For example, I just tried to convince a shoemaker that there must be something he can do to fix my favourite pair of 24-year-old sandals (those Germans make good shoes, unlike the cheap disposable rubbish coming out of Asia).

Lately my husband took a lot of furniture has been taken from my house(divorce not through yet), and people tell me that I'm going to need a sofa, or some armchairs, or a bedroom set etc. I don't believe them. One of these days, the mood will strike me and I'll put on some music and dance. There is so much space to do that now.

After a few days without a bed, I relented and bought a mattress/boxspring set. I still appreciate a good night's sleep.

What is most important in my life right now are the people I love, and my frustrating attempts to write. In case you're already snickering at that last bit, I write in French, not in English, thank goodness.

Take good care, Bill,
Hugs to you and Dondra.
Bill Craig said…
I love an almost-empty apartment, Margaret. A sofa, some milk crates to store books and the like, plenty of closet space and a chair or two, is all I need. And a phone and phonebook, and that's all I need. Except for a tv and stereo. That's all *I* need! I don't need *anything* else, except a plate and a fork. And this lamp. And that's all I need.

And the people I love and who love me, just like you.

Nothing to snicker at. Write when the mood hits you, "Mood" Indigo. ;)

Don't forget to be good to yourself and the rest will come.

Always here for you ---

Bill and Dondra
John said…
As I grow older, I too find that I don't 'need' stuff. I have too much already. You know how I like flying. I used to think that if I ever won the lottery, I'd have the Cessna 172 that belonged to dad, a T-34B, A Grumman-American AA-1C (or -1B), a T-28C, A couple/few different helicopters... And the list goes on. It finally occurred to me that my 'job' would be flying all day, every day. I'd never have time for anything else. I look at my camera collection. With school and work, I never have time to use them. Same with my cars and motorcycles. Same with lots of things. If I had the time, I'd sell most of my stuff.

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