What ever happened to my ninth decade? It wasn’t everybody’s ninth decade, just mine. It started on a tragic note. Two days before its start three thousand people lost their lives in the collapse of the twin-towers brought on by terrorists. The war on terror did not end during my ninth decade.

A number of life-changing events took place during my ninth decade, and I shall try to mention some of them. My wife, Dorothy, came down with cancer. We spent most of a year in treating the disease. Half of the year we drove to Zion, Ill. each month for a treatment. A couple of days after she seemed much improved and feeling well, she died.

I carried on as best I could, living alone in a family house. I associated with old friends and neighbors. I learned to cook for myself, being sure there were few leftovers. To avoid my own cooking, I arranged to have lunch weekly with Rose Marie, a widow known to me for half my life. She was good company and soon we had lunch together more than weekly. We also found it desirable to go other places such as concerts and plays together. We became pretty good friends.

About this time it became harder for me to read my paper. I needed a brighter light. The condition got worse as time went by. I eventually realized that I had macular degeneration and that it would get worse. It became clear that I couldn’t continue to safely run the household with bad vision. I needed to make different living arrangements. All my children visited and gave their evaluations of my dilemma. They all offered their help. Catherine suggested a trial run at her place which I accepted and found it to be the best fit for me. What made the real difference was I felt in my heart that she really wanted me to come and live with her. The decision made, I sold all the household goods and put the house up for sale. I had way too much help in selling the goods. I think my kids gave most of it away, including some things I wanted to keep. And so it happened that I landed in Lafayette, Louisiana. Soon Catherine saw that I needed a project to help keep me busy and I found myself enrolled in a Life Writing class. I wrote several stories and met a few interesting people, but not many life-changing events other the further loss of my vision occurred until near the end of the decade. On the second day of this year my youngest daughter Susanna lost her difficult battle with ovarian cancer. Then, with just five months to go I fell to the floor and broke both my arm and my leg. This put a sudden stop to my activities.

In due time I recovered enough to get around outside of my home, with help. Son David planned a family week at Tybrisa Beach. The response was feeble but Catherine and I planned to go anyway. When it came time to go our flight had been cancelled because the puny storm Lee interfered with a flight somewhere. This continued for a couple of days, as plans changed. We decided to go to Washington instead. Catherine and husband visited son Shawn and I visited, in Reston, Virginia, my son David, who had cut his beach vacation short. David celebrated my visit by taking me to see my first opera, Tosca. I couldn’t see the stage, and I don’t understand Italian, but the music came through loud and clear. I enjoyed it despite the obstacles, partly because the lady sitting next to me had seen many “Tosca’s and her comments were amusing.

On Sunday, 9/11/11 David started preparing a meal and during the morning people drifted in. I expected the local ones, but I was surprised to see my granddaughter Emily and her dad Dick from Florida. They came for the afternoon and left the next morning. It was wonderful to see them. The next surprise was granddaughter Alisa who seldom attends family gatherings. It was great to see her, too. By early afternoon there was a houseful of people present. There were my three surviving children, three spouses, six grand children and a great grandson. I was surprised yet again when I received a delightful call from my niece Rebecca.

David brought in a young woman to play her classical guitar for a couple of hours, to entertain us. Also there was a great reunion of cousins happening. We all gathered out on the patio for the meal prepared for us. Everyone ate heartily, after which all sang “Happy Birthday”. This pretty much ended my ninth decade although I really had two days to go. David charged the whole assembly to read the stories I wrote and ask me questions about anything I hadn’t made clear. Several folks said nice things about Old Dad; Alisa reminded me that I was Grandpa Pickenberry. Stephen baked my favorite cake, orange chiffon. It was a great sendoff to my tenth decade. I really don’t believe I’ll have a tenth decade. Few people do. But for the time being I will live like it’s a sure thing.

Present besides me: David & Katyna, Andre & Ursula and her friend Jonathan, Stephen, Alisa & Beau, Logan, Catherine & Ghulam, Shawn and his friend Adrienne, Dick, Emily