100 foot tether

I visited a friend yesterday, driving to Central Oregon, through the mountians, following the path of the McKenzie River. The scenery is beautiful with just enough Birch Trees to add that touch of Autumn color. Until you hit the summit most of what you see are magnificant Douglas Firs. When small these are the traditional Christmas trees but they become the "giants of the forest" and are well over 100 feet tall. When you hit the summit you are in snow country and the scenery abrupty changes as do the trees. Pine grows here, everywhere, in huge open country, as far as you can see.

My friend lives in Sisters, Oregon, an old-west town with ordinances stating that any new construction must have this "old-west" facade. Ten years ago I helpd him build his house on the edge of the town. It is an old-west style and looked 100 years old the day we finished it. I was retired at the time but came out of retirement to help a friend. Two older guys building a house!
This is the last house I built and working with Jerry (his name too!) was a lot of fun. He is a few years older than I am but in excellent physical shape. He ran Marathon races in several States
and climbed all the mountains of Oregon and Washington. He had a Harley Davidson Motorcycle
and fancied himself a cowboy!

I hadn't visited him in years. We get busy and so into our own world, don't we? As I pulled into his driveway I immediately saw the sign in his window: "No Smoking, Oxygen in Use" My heart sank. Jerry has never had a cigarette in his life. Not one! He was not a coal miner and didn't have a dangerous job. He was an accountant! It was a wonderful visit. He has this one last mountain to climb. It is not curable. He is on a one hundred foot oxygen hose, tethered to the house we built.

Reminiscing

"The good old days" for me would certainly have to before I had cancer! I am having an on-going discussion with a fellow blogger about the State of the Union, how things are and how they were. It occurred to me while having a bubble bath in my huge cast iron tub that we don't remember things exactly as they were and we don't think of the consequences of bringing the past into the future. A short 10 years ago with a diagnosis of Hodgekin's Lymphoma that was a death sentence! It wasn't that long ago that woman could only be nurses or teachers or librarians! I am glad that my daughters, in theory at least, could be on the Supreme Court! or President!or pretty much whatever they want! Not that long ago that minorities could not get loans or be allowed success at most levels, and in my lifetime, had to ride in the back of the bus!
I think we miss the dream and fantacy of the old days.
Today we demand and expect so much more. I miss the days when a house cost $14,000
(I paid $8,375. for mine!) and was in reach of anyone willing to work for it. No one would buy that house today. We expect huge houses with several bathrooms, a great room and a kitchen with granite countertops! and these expectations come with a price and a loss of whatever might have been good about "the good old days"! Who knew that this road we are on would get us to here? and like every road taken throughout history, we have our pluses and minuses, our potholes, barricades and open freeway. No one really knows where they are going, only where they have been and we have a tendency to only remember the good things along that path.