Like a rubber ball, I come bouncing back

I take Life Learning (read "Geezer") Courses sponsored by Salem (Mass.) State College. Today's class was about Nelson Mandela, who once wrote, " The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." I guess that would make me a human yo-yo.

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I was so exhausted and jet-lagged when I came back from Hawaii the other day that I fell asleep in a chair and dreamed about Alan Dershowitz.

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I woke up the other day with a sore left foot, and by the end of the day I could hardly walk. Perhaps there was a sprain or tear precipitated by my daily 2.2-mile brisk walks. In any event, I needed support to get around so I grabbed my late father-in-law’s shilleleagh and hobbled about with that as an aid. The foot appears to be getting better, but, gee, I feel kind of cool wielding the cane, so maybe I will keep using it. I can imagine myself as a boulevardier on the Champs Elysees. No, wait, it’s a shilleleagh. I guess I’ll have to imagine I’m a large leprechaun on Grafton Street.

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In his final book of poetry, "Endpoint," John Updike writes that perhaps we find heaven at the beginning of our lives, not the end. The man may have something there.