When your friends are your age or even older, and your age is in the late 70s, you hear this message more and more often: "The number you have called is not connected."
"No longer connected", may be more to the point but you get the idea, don't you? The number is no longer connected because the person you've been trying to call is no longer connected by that thin thread called life. It's happened twice to me this week and it upset me a bit - quite a bit!
The third call I made was to an old acquaintance from my days in Canberra in the mid-60s. He's quite a bit older than me and I know he had health issues and for several months his phone had rung out every time I called. This time I got through to him but only because he had just recently come out of hospital after twelve months of operations and what-not. Neither of us wanted to dwell on it but instead talked about those days almost sixty years ago when we had had so much fun but most of all good health and a seemingly endless life ahead of us.
Should you wish to call me, the worst you may get is this message: "Sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you" as soon as I've come back from the jetty where I'll sit for the next couple of hours to contemplate how lucky I am to be still here, and not just here but HERE in this magical place by the river. I'll get back to you.
