Having a Bad Day

I had a really bad day today. Teenagers running amok in the halls screaming and yelling. A rash of gang tagging showed up in the locker area on the third floor. Kids openly wearing gang colors inside the school and daring teachers to say something about it. It was one of those days when working in a school in The Back of the Yards you really wish you were one of the lucky ones who gets to work at a nice college preparatory school in a neighborhood where kids aren't busy shooting other kids.

In addition, I'm feeling my mortality today. I have two brothers, one 69 years old and one 64 years old. My oldest brother recently went through back surgery and prostate surgery. My other brother, the 64 year old one just today had surgery for a cranial aneurism. The surgery went well, but they had to delay it for months because of weight and high blood pressure issues. My younger sister has diabetes. My older sister complains about back pain. Everyone is getting old. I went to the gym and worked abs, did weights, and ran 4 miles today. No back problems, no prostate problems, no high blood pressure, no cholesterol issues, no diabetes. Not yet anyway. I'm actively fighting it all.

Still, knowing that your siblings, not your parents, are old and having health issues makes you feel old by association. The time of graduations and weddings is past for siblings and their children. Graduations and weddings are for grandchildren now. One begins to wonder how long before the funerals begin, before close relatives and friends begin to fade from the scene one by one. I intend to fight it, kicking and screaming. I plan to live to be a hundred years old. I plan to see my fiftieth wedding anniversary with Babs. Who will join us at that ripe old age?

I was driving home after school today and was stopped and made to turn around by the police. There was yet another incident on 47th Street with herds of cop cars accompanied by fire trucks and paramedic vehicles. Couldn't see what had happened. Cops weren't talking. Just told me to turn around and find another route to the Dan Ryan. Another shooting? A hit and run? Who knows? I had a bad day. Someone else obviously had a much worse day.