The older I get, the more days goes by quickly. People of my age, at least the ones I know well, are all very busy. In 1948 (65 years ago ! ) We were 148 to finish our high school and to successfully pass our exams. Today nearly a hundred disappeared.
We, the "survivors", we usually meet us each autumn at a luncheon in the Geneva countryside. 3 weeks ago, we were 25 around the table and 22 bothered to send us a letter of apology, stating that they were still alive, even though they were often n
I'm no more the same after getting out of the hospital yesterday. I regained my good humor and my optimism.
Contrary to my fears, the examinations were very positive. The cancer has stopped growing and all vital functions run smoothly. I should not have listened to the urologists who talked to me of an extension of the cancer toward the bladder. This is often the problem when dealing with several SPs who don’t agree with each other I
For years I had to deal with the medics, either as pati
In a few days, I shall find myself in the hospital for a range of unpleasant examinations. It seems that my cancer wakes up and my body has difficulty to resist its attacks.
This is the worst time because I should rather take care of my wife, whose health declines day by day. She needs me more and more and I'm afraid of not being able to take care of her. So we have to make other arrangements, calling for nursing staff coming home. Neither she nor I want to end up in a hospital. Our house is
In a few days, I will celebrate my 84th birthday and my wife has just celebrated its 85th anniversary. But this is not the most important event. 62 years ago, fate brought me my greatest gift: I met the girl who became my wife. We were both young and we still are. The above photo was taken during our first meetings.
Time has passed but the feelings are still the same. We went through the storms of life, overcoming many difficulties, enjoyed all the joys and sorrows of all these years. We acc
I have read with great pleasure MikeL's blog 'Growing Old is Awesome' posted a few days ago. And then I went to look at his profile and I noticed that he was in his 71st year. He still has therefore some 15 years for having the same age as me, 84 years next month.
I remembered how I was myself 15 years ago, in 1998. I too could have written the same blog as him, with the same title. I knew to enjoy my life without worrying about the future. I rejoiced in the morning to know that I could make
Today, April 6, 2013, I'm living the 30’562nd day of my life.
Let us forget the first years, of which besides I have no more memories. If I try to return back enough and retrieve the little boy that I was then, the first image that I remember clearly - I was about 3 years old -, is as follows: I was sitting on a stair step in the house of my grandparents in Germany with a large hammer in my hand and I was beating aggressively on a peg to consolidate a small bench. I already showed the first
The period between Christmas and New Year is an opportunity to provide an update and move forward. I do not know how much time I have left to live. What is certain is that, despite the passing of time, I try to stay as often as possible in contact with the world around me. Many of my friends are dead, but GA has offered me the opportunity to meet new friends.
Going through my old blogs, I found a text written in 2008 and I updated it. For all those who do not know me yet, here's the text.
I go
Getting old, feeling his strength diminishing, thinking more in the past than the future, seeing my friends disappear one by one ...
Seeing the youth stand up to leave their seats when I boards a bus ...
Seeing my hair in the mirror becoming more and more white,
No longer be able to run as long and as fast as before and quickly losing my breath after few hundred meters,
No longer feeling anything but tenderness at the sight of the beloved,
Thinking with nostalgia of the happy times when I l
The Swiss National Day is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on August 1.
In 1291, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden united to defend the peace upon the death of Emperor Rudolf I of Habsburg. Their union, one nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy, is recorded in the Federal Charter.
If it’s true that you can judge a country’s image of itself by its National Day, then Switzerland definitely offers a relaxing sight. No military parades and no grandiose speeches on Lebensrau
It seems our fate is written somewhere (in the stars or in our genes) and whatever you do, we are conditioned by the qualities and defects inherited from our ancestors. Most ancient religions remind us that we are the sum of the experiences of those who came before us.
Karma means "deed", "action", "rite". This is a Sanskrit term used in many Eastern religions. For these religions, the concept of karma is commonly referred to the cycle of causes and consequences of the existence of sentient
I'm 'overwhelmed' by the mass of produced new chapters last week, over 20!
The authors are very prolific and GA is a wonderful opportunity to spend a pleasant time to read and comment on all the stories.
My only problem: I can not follow and right now I do not even have time to write the next chapter of my own story .
I often wonder if it should not include a special section for people who are overloaded, a kind of 'Reader's Digest, as the same publication as you probably know.
The few
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a 1958 American film based on the true story of a tenacious British maid, who became a missionary in China during the tumultuous years leading up to WWII.
The film culminates with the column of children marching into the town, singing the song ‘This Old Man’ to keep up their spirits.
I love watching old movies, which remind me of my youth, soon 60 years ago.
In the evening, when bringing the kids to bed,, we sang together the song that accompanies the end
Those who read my blogs know that I have lived an exciting life, eventful, with both pleasant circumstances and difficult times.
Nephylim suggested I should write my memoirs as a non-fiction story. I did it and really enjoyed writing this story, thinking that may be some could learn from my experiences, my joys and my woes.
The first chapters were favorably received. Over 500 readers have read hem.
Today, only about 30 readers have read the last written chapter, the 15th. I wonder some
In 9 weeks, I will reach my 83th birthday. It seems to me that my brain is still the same as 43 years ago, with perhaps just the fact that it works at a slower pace. It is different with my body, especially in the morning when I have to get up ! I fought a long life full of hassles, but also full of pleasures and joys .
Did I may be live too long ? Certainly not !
My greatest pleasure now is to revive in my memory all these happy and unhappy moments.
My life is not finished and I hope t
Last few weeks, my clients are agitated. February is the period of closings of accounts and tax preparation. It comes to bring order in the accounts, calculating depreciation and amortization and seek to to 'optimize' the results for paying the least possible tax.
Optimize: this means to declare less possible income and as much as possible expenses. It is said that statistics are a sophisticated form of lying. This statement also applies to the accounts of companies!
My clients have unde
The first days of January are often the occasion to take stock and to set targets for the coming months. The experiences of 2011 certainly part of a continuum, but they are for me a passage towards a new stage.
The year ended badly. My wife broke her hip and we spent New Year in hospital. Her recovery will take time and it is now my main concern. But this does not stop me from planning my next activities, both to carry on my mandates as consultant and to write the next chapters of my memorie
Am I really old?
Old men like to give good precepts to console themselves for being no longer able to give bad examples (La Rochefoucauld).
Does this quote really apply to me?
It is true that I tend to relate my experiences, the result of a long working life, with its good and bad times. I feel like I have learned lessons that I like to give to others. But I have always done so and I even made it by profession. This is certainly not a feature of my great age.
My problem now, especia
Relive the past
Last few days, I divide my time between my work and writing my memoirs. Nephylim persuaded me to make the story of my life available to all GA members.
It seemed to her that my story might interest other than me and that everyone could learn from my experiences.
Be a model is not an easy task, but if I take her words, I managed to achieve personal fulfillment and I could well give courage and hope to all those younger than me, who fight and struggle to overcome their dif
Some days ago, I read my various entries in GA: 14 blogs in 2011 (not counting all the other since 2006), 1640 posts, and not to mention countless comments !
My only regret is: having just a knowledge of "practice" English, sufficient to communicate in my business work and my travels, but not to allow me to write in the language of Shakespeare all the events that happened to me and to convert them in stories I could write for my pleasure and perhaps for that of a reader.
Despite these sh
The world news are bad.
European governments are unable to control the financial crisis. American politicians are fighting to death for power. Africans are unable to overcome the famine in Somalia and Kenya.
Everyone is fighting to retain privileges accumulated over the past decades instead of trying to solve problems together.
Here in Europe, everyone expects a major economic crisis, but the leaders of the European Union are unable to agree on a quick fix , each preferring to defend a sel
How time flies.... My last blog is already 2 months old. At that time, I felt superior, giving advices all around and flattered by all the positive comments that responded to my blogs.
Today, I see the months passing, with too many days of work hard to bear, and my fatigue increasing day by day.
I'm apparently no more the same as I was only months ago.
Most of my momentum, which came from my feeling of always having the same strength as I had 30 years ago, is slowly disappearing.
On th
My professional life took place in several stages:
The apprenticeship of a young engineer, trying to practice what he learned at university and gaining his first experiences of junior officer in the industry,
The maturation period, as a general consultant working for an association of companies in the oil sector, with the purpose to improve the profitability of the 1'200 members of the association, from small commercial oil distributors to the big heads of several networks of oil stor
During the last 4 months, I participated in the life of GA with 10 blogs, 6 of them dealing with death problems. It's horrible !
Fortunately, the last blog dealt mainly with the future.
Today, I forget the past and also the long term future. I only care what will happen in the next weeks. In exactly one week, next Friday, this will be my birthday. I do not know what my wife and my children are planning to prepare. I dont like too large family celebrations but I'll let them do what they wa
The state of things being what they are, I must first take stock of the present.
The experience of my life is a significant asset. I learned that you should always face, never lose heart and that every setback has also good sides.
I experienced a succession of joys, my marriage, the birth of 4 children, the support my wife gave me in the dark moments of my professional life, and also a succession of misfortunes, disease (AIDS) of my daughter and her death, the loss of my fortune as a resul
The reactions to my last blogs about death made me aware that I apparently broke a taboo. So let's go to break it even more.
When you reach an advanced age and when the approach of death no longer scare you (yes, I'm afraid of dying, afraid of suffering during the final moments, but death itself does not afraid me). Either there is nothing after the it, and nobody cares because it's the absolute end, or the life of the spirit continues (if you prefer to use other words for it, it's up to
