7/31/23

We pass by the old house that used to belong to her father.

 Snow covered Alps surround us…to the west France , to the north and east Italy. The sun is warm, the air clean and dry with a slight smell of earthy cow manure ahead. 

Leaning against the house,  asleep with a dog and a bottle of wine  are two old unbathed, unshaven men. Flies circle their heads…

“ Mama who are they? “ I  whisper…

“ Your great uncles…life has left them behind”.

We walk on to the next family house…

This morning I called my son to ask about buying a gift for my two granddaughters…for their 21st birthdays 15 years down the line…a nice Italian fountain pen I found ( I write only with them as does my son). 

I explained I might be dead when they turned 21  but he could give it to them for me. 

He was quiet and then answered it was a nice thought but…he doubted anybody would be writing by then…

I was stunned but the more I thought about it the more I realized he might be right. 

Yesterday I read my weekly New England Journal of Medicine…in magazine form , not on line…that way I can make marks  with my fountain pen…

There was a lengthy article about AI in Medicine and how it will change all our lives. Already AI may be better than radiologists at diagnosing cancers by CT scans, and MRIs. As I read I could feel life passing me by. 

When I was  in Medical School we were told to keep up with Continuing Medical Education since each 10 years our knowledge would be outdated . When I finished my post graduate training it had dropped to 7 years and now I read that the number has dropped to 3.5 years…which means a student cannot cannot graduate from Medical School without being behind. Only AI has the capacity to keep up…

I’m not sure what all this means…but it makes me ponder the place I’m in. 

About 12 years ago I was on a break from work staying with my cousin at that same house where two old men, flies, a bottle of wine and a mangy dog graced the courtyard wall. I found myself in exactly the same spot, no bath in three days, a mangy dog asleep next to me, a cup of coffee in hand and the warm spring sun gradually putting me to sleep. That very day I decided “ this was the life” and started  to slow down… I went “part time” when I got back home.

Suddenly I find my mind again in the same place…looking out on the world as it passes me by….fountain pen in hand, a bike I ride for adventures, and the warm sun in the afternoon. 

Maybe it’s best to let AI come and the younger generation , who will not know how to write, find common ground with rapid advances in a New World. 

I can hear my granddaughters now sometime ahead…their friends will see me blissfully asleep against some wall in the warm afternoon sun with a mangy dog , a paper tablet, and a fountain pen in hand. 

“What’s that thing he’s holding?  Who is he?” their friends will ask.

“That’s just our BaBa…don’t disturb him…time has left him behind”.  

 In 6 days I start another MS trek around the remote Olympic Peninsula…

At least I can still ride a bike…