SO NOW WHAT???

                                                                                               By: Carole Blake

OK…so now I’m sitting at my computer, ready to write something, but nothing’s coming! Is that because I’m going to be seventy-one next month? In the past my brain would be bursting with ideas…usually funny ones. Is nothing funny any more? Or is my age making me forget the funny stuff that happens to me? (Sometimes I forget why I went into a certain room in my house…but that’s another story!) Over the years, my articles have appeared in many local newspapers and magazines, and they can be found in the two books I’ve had published. I recently re-read both books, and if I say so myself…they’re damned good! They even make ME laugh. But now…nothing!

Many of my friends spend a great deal of time playing Canasta and Mahjong, but I have resisted those activities. And besides…I have no idea how to play those games! I’ve always felt that I’m happier to spend hours of each day being creative. Besides my stories, I’ve written hundreds of songs…lyrics only…but still…HUNDREDS! I also have a little business in which I write poems for various occasions…like bridal showers, birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs…stuff like that. But unlike years before, that business has slowed down considerably. So now I’m sitting here with time on my hands, waiting for inspiration to hit me over the head…but that ain’t happenin’! One thing I DO love to do is to play tennis. My Mom was a club champion in Baltimore, and she encouraged me to play when I was a little girl. Now I play as often as I can…indoors in winter and outdoors in summer.

In today’s world, seventy is not THAT old. It used to be, but people live a lot longer nowadays. They also get face lifts (not me…too afraid of surgery!); they get Botox injections (tried that, but it just made my eye lids droop!); they work out at the gym (I sometimes do that…but…BORING!). I think I look pretty young for my age, but recently – when a salesperson told me that I didn’t look older than sixty – I did NOT take that as a compliment! So what did I expect? That I look like I’m forty? I have two grown children over that age! Let’s not be ridiculous here!

Maybe it’s all about the aches and pains. And the “not sleeping” problem. Maybe the aches and pains are actually FROM the “not sleeping” problem! Whatever the cause, every day at least one of the following parts of me is hurting – in no particular order: my stomach, my neck, my right hand, my arm, my foot, and sometimes…my feelings! The latter happens if I’m playing tennis and I don’t score well. So what if my arm is killing me, if I get a good score, I feel GREAT!

My husband thinks I’m still attractive. At least that’s what he SAYS! But (thank goodness) he loves me and wants me to feel good about myself, so I can’t really take his compliments to the bank! That’s another thing: the BANK! Why didn’t one of my songs become a major hit…giving me unbelievable royalties as well as fame? I recently saw the wonderful Broadway hit “Beautiful, the Carole King musical”. When will the “Carole BLAKE musical” happen? That’s what I want to know!

So, am I complaining too much? Maybe. Or actually, maybe not enough! Do you think having a different pair of reading glasses in every single room in my house – and of course in my pocketbook (how else to read a menu?) – is easy? Do you think it’s fun NOT to hear exactly what the actors are talking about on one of my favorite TV shows, “Nashville”? Thank goodness I can DVR that show and rewind and put the volume WAY up! When my Mom was around my age and she couldn’t hear as well as she used to, she would always say “They just don’t project! They don’t know how to speak!” Maybe she had a good point there! Half the people on TV – especially the younger ones – just don’t project! (Way to go, Mom!)

So here I am – at the age I am – with nothing to write about, and suddenly I wrote all that you see above. My computer tells me I’ve written 712 words so far! Wow! So maybe I DO have things to say! I recently received a melody track from one of my collaborators, and the lyrics just popped into my head. It’s a very romantic song. The music is lovely, and the words are sensational. If it were 1965, it could be a major hit! I’d send it to Barbra Streisand or Doris Day or Nancy Wilson, and I’d have a Number 1 song on the Billboard charts! But I’m not giving up! I’m in the process of recording two different versions of it, and who knows…maybe it could still be a hit. (I doubt that Lady Gaga will record it though!)

Maybe seventy-one won’t be as bad as I thought. Maybe there’s lots of new and interesting things in store for me. I’m starting to get excited! What a great feeling!

So…as far as the title of this piece goes…SO NOW WHAT?

I’M EXCITED! THAT’S WHAT!!!