Looking up

I saw something today I've never seen before: five airplanes flying west to east in close, tight formation ... skywriting.  I happened to be sitting outside on a bench in the courtyard of the MarMain Arms for no particular reason other than it was a lovely morning of blue sky, sunshine, cool temperature and low humidity.  I don't know why I looked up when I did.  There was no sound from the sky.  I don't know the altitude of the planes.  The perfection of the formation and the elegant precision of the smoke bursts held me.  I couldn't see the entire message -- from where I sat, the letters were upside down and backwards, and the first and last words were obscured by the west and east wings of the building.  I heard later it was actually an advertisement for Geico.  To the best of my knowledge no geckos were harmed in the making of the aerial commercial.

Appreciating simple things

Visits to the neurologist treating my late-onset Multiple Sclerosis routinely include a short series of questions to assess my memory and baseline cognition:  what day and date is it, who is the President of the United States, who was the previous President, who was the one before that.  On television such questions can appear so obvious and simple as to invite amusement or derision.  The first time one has to stop and think about each answer, it is a sobering, humbling and somewhat embarrassing experience.  I was more or less on my game this morning and managed to answer all four questions without conducting a quick, silent, self-double-check.  (I nearly referred to POTUS 44 as Barack Hussein Osama but caught myself before the errant consonant passed my lips.  I knew who I meant, and had not needed to give it any thought, so I was happy.)

Replaying the visit in my mind this evening, I realized that, if asked, I could have recited the Presidents' full names from Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., back through Dwight David Eisenhower, who was serving his second term when I was born.  As recently as eight years ago (when my first physical symptoms of MS appeared) or even just three years ago (when my diagnosis was finally made and I began to notice the beginning of mild cognitive symptoms), I would have considered the ability to perform such recitation of trivia to be ... well ... trivial.  No more.

Once more unto the breach

This blog, like so many of mine before it, is founded with my best intentions of recording things of possible interest to others.  It is also intended to serve as a parking space for bits and pieces of information I want to retain for future reference -- items I like to think of as eclectic but which others may view as trivial.  Be that as it may, here goes.