Living in Oklahoma with Glaucoma

     I can go into any public place and I see people everywhere sitting there with their cell phones out and engaged in some kind of interaction with it. The cell phone has become a necessary item that everyone must have in order to communicate with the world. I  have never been much of a ‘text’ or ’email’ person when it came to communicating with people. However, it has been unavoidable and necessary if we are to stay connected to our friends, families, and business affairs. Now that I am retired, my volume of emails, texts, and phone calls has dropped significantly, but a new connection has emerged. This is ‘spam calls’. Beware, if you fill out a form online or register for an app, you will eventually get spam calls. I have done everything short of threatening the telemarketer to stop calling me. By law, we are allowed to ask them to place us on some kind of ‘do not call’ list, but I think no such thing exists. 

     I have also used the ‘block’ feature on my cell phone to block their calls; however, I think they are using some computer program to recycle the phone numbers they use to call me. I know there are apps out there [I just got a spam call while writing this blog!] that can monitor these calls, but they charge a fee for their services. I say all of this to say this: we are slowly becoming disconnected from each other. People everywhere are becoming more and more comfortable with the new way of communicating. I hate it. I am socially driven by interacting with people. I need to see your facial expressions. I need to read your body language to understand you. You can’t get that from an email or a text message. Recently, statistics have shown that ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’ have increased with the invention of social media.

       So what’s the answer? I think the has grown so big, I really don’t know where to start. However, I am going to take steps that are intentional. I am going to purposely interact with my friends, neighbors, and people in general. I am going to force myself to engage in conversations and interactions. I will also try to reduce my time I spend on my cell phone and social media. It’s going to be hard, but I believe it’s worth it.  

 

July 22, 2025 

     We are going into our seventh month here in Yukon, Oklahoma. The move was a fast one, and we managed to pull it off with the grace of God. I do miss being in Charlotte sometimes. We have been there since 1997. I have so many fond memories living there. However, I never really had any, what you might call, ‘close friends’. Most of the guys in the church that I was attending have passed away or have moved on themselves.. I also realized just how busy my life was.. My week could consist of teaching 6:00 am fitness classes 2 to 3 times a week, working 8 hours on my regular job at the bank, and then having a few personal training clients after work. I was also a member of the Army Reserve on weekends. I did that for over 15 years! Now, all of that activity is gone. I don’t have any classes or clients now. I attend church weekly, and I attend my weekly Toastmasters meetings.. I attempt to go to the gym 3 times a week for myself. Yes, my activities have slowed down. 

     That’s okay, because I have so many books that I want to read and wrtiing projects that I now have time for. It will take some time to adjust to the new schedule.

August 15, 2025

     Life has settled down for me. I look at phone log and notice the traffic on my cell phone has slowed down significantly. When I was living in Charlotte, the amount of texts and phone calls were abundant. Now, accept for the weekly bombarement of robocalls and spam emails, there isn’t much happening anymore. I do miss my days of being busy. A usual day for me would start with me teaching my 6 a.m. fitness class at the YMCA, showering, going into the office to do my 8 hours at my job; I would teach an evening fitness class or sometimes I would do a personal training session with a client and then head home. I would eat dinner around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m.  I would go to bed around 10:00 p.m. I would do this crazy schedule almost 4 to 5 times a week. Sunday was my only day off. However, I do miss the people. That is the strange thing about notariety; it can become additive. It was such a boost to my ego that when I rushed from work to go teach one of my fitness classes and when I ran upstairs to the studio to find 80 to a 100 people waiting for me, it was awesome! I did know in the back of my mind that this was only temporary. The real truth was that they were there not because they loved me as a person. They were there because of what I had to offer them; which was a heard and challenging workout. If I ever fell down and broke my leg, they were sure to find someone else to replace me. After knee replacement surgery, they did. The same is true of our celebrities. Our hereos of sports and entertainment go through the same process. That is why it is so sad to see some of them try to hang on to the ‘good old days’ of their success. I was watching on YouTube the other day a video of the Jacksons. I am a big Jackson 5 fan. I know Michael was the center of it all but truthfully, I like them collectively as a group. Their career spans over 50 years! Since Michael and Tito have passed away, they have reduce themselves to just two original members (Jackie and Marlon), along with a few backup singers and dancers who are doing one night stand revival shows. Here is a group that used to pack out stadiums around the country. 

     The truth is my generation (Baby Boomers) are slowly passing away. We were the biggest of all the other generatioal groups. We had the biggest impact on society. Now, we are fading away to make room the next generations. Our music and trends are all nostalgic and old history. I remember td an actual music store to buy an album. I remember how I would collect them and how the artwork alone was worth the purchase. Now, you can pay $9.95 a month and get all the music you want streamed to your phone or computer. Everything is becoming so disconnected that we can do virtually everything from the convenience of our homes. We can do our banking, pay our bills, go to the movies, order groceries and talk to each other on visual phone calls. I miss the days of live music in the park, children playing outside and people conversing with each other in person. I don’t know how all of this is going to end but suicide rates have gone up and people are dealing more with depression and anxiety these days. Even some churches, since the pandemic, have switched to a virtual format of hosting their services. I am not going to change. I will continue to live the rest of my life in a way that will allow me to engage with people. I will fight the temptation to become isolated and lazy by the advancements of technology. I believe God has made us all to be conscience of one another, to care for each other and to have a common awareness of each other.