TODAY'S GUEST POST - THE LEGENDARY BUDD DAVISSON

My good friend the legendary Budd Davisson (he hates it when we call him that, but it’s true) posts at his Substack - “Thinking Out Loud” - on Saturdays. This one turned out to be one I really needed to read, since the exact same stuff has been going on for me, only the details are all different. But the story’s the same.

I have a suspicion it might talk to you, too.

TC

“DON’T LET THE OLD MAN IN”

By Budd Davisson

I’m not sure which direction this one is going to go. However, I’d like to say right up front that I hate those blogs which dwell on personal, meaningless subjects (“I couldn’t decide on plaid or striped socks today”). At the same time, once in a while we experience something that, although it is intensely personal, everyone on the planet can identify with it. Or maybe learn from it. I’m viewing this Thinking Out Loud in that vein.

The sequence of events was: 1. Sunday, I had a personal challenge and beat it down. 2. Monday, Toby Keith lost the good fight but left us with a ton of songs, one of which helps guide my life. 3. This morning, Saturday, I got the call that a good friend had died. His had been such a nasty battle, part of me is glad it’s over.

 This is not going to be a downer blog. It’s just us talking about the absurdities of the way life is constructed (bright beginning, often a dismal end) and how a percentage of it is under our control. However, too many of us fail to exercise that control.

First, if you’re under the age of 40 and its Sunday or later in the week, go watch Super Bowl coverage. You won’t relate to this subject. However, I’m betting I don’t have many kids reading these words. Gray is probably a universal color here so most of you are starting to hear the clock ticking. Some of you, those who are well established as gray dogs, as I am, can’t keep the clock out of our minds. These days it feels as if we skip every other year and weeks are only three days long. Everything is happening too damn fast.

When I returned and was driving down the ramp, the wind was still out there teasing me. Maybe a little worse. I parked in the middle of the ramp and studied the sock. Sometimes it would wiggle around behind the wing a little, which tailwheel pilots should try to avoid. Should I do this? I was not a happy camper. To be honest, I was disappointed in myself.

Then I heard a voice inside my head (a common occurrence for most of us) and it said “Dammit! You’re letting the old man in. Stop that! Give in to this and age will own you. You’ll have opened the flood gates to your downfall.”

That voice was so obvious, it was almost frightening. It may have Clint’s or Toby’s voice. I don’t know.

The airplane came out of the hangar and 8PB and I had a terrifically fun time shooting landings. Yeah, the wind was screwing with us, but I beat it down. No sweat! When I taxied up and blasted the tail around to line up with the hangar door, I felt 30 years younger. I made no effort to get out. I just sat there in that form-fitting little cockpit for a while and enjoyed the feeling. I was back! I had chased the old man out the door!

As the mileage piles up, we all feel time eating away at our energy, our confidence, our very being on a daily basis. And most of the time, assuming we aren’t really sick, we know what’s happening, but we give in to it anyway. We become lazy, when we don’t need to be. We’re just taking the easy way out. Some years back, Toby and Clint got together and Toby wrote the song when Eastwood was starting on another movie at 88 years of age. Clint said his motto was “Don’t Let the Old Man In” and Toby put it to music.   

I faced my old man challenge on Sunday. Toby died on Monday.

"Don't Let The Old Man In"

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