I don’t know how long I will be writing these articles for the OBSERVER, as it would appear that I am not far from the end of my sojourn on earth. With the leaves turning color this October, I will celebrate – Wednesday, Oct. 21 – 88 years on this good earth. They have been a good 88 years.

I have had a good life, not for amassing a fortune, but surely for my enjoyment of my work, play, family, and my small but successful accomplishments. Although they may pale in comparison to many, they were challenge enough for me, without burning my nose by pushing it too hard against the grindstone.

I was educated in electronics and started as low man in the engineering department during the construction of TV at WGR-TV, Channel 2 in 1954. I spent 36 years there. In time I worked every technical job in the engineering department, eventually becoming the manager of engineering for three Buffalo stations, WGR-AM, WGRQ-FM and WGR-TV. When the parent company sold the TV station in 1983, I stayed with TV and the Z was added to WGRZ-TV to separate it from the WGR radio stations. I retired in 1989.

I assume few people reach my present age and remain as active as I am. For that I thank God. I sing regularly with a 50-man barbershop chorus. I also sing with a quartet from this chorus. We often take gigs to entertain at various social functions such as parties for anniversaries, etc. Of everything I do, entertaining with the quartet at those various parties, is the most enjoyable. I still play a little golf, but not like I used to. My game is not what it used to be, but it is not disgraceful.

There are down sides of growing old. I know they say it beats the alternative, but one of the biggest downsides is that so many of my really good friends, people I really enjoyed sharing my life with, including my wife, are gone. I have new friends, like for instance the guys in my quartet, bless them, but I would love to see some of the old ones. I would like my quartet to perform for them. Some of them never suspected singing was a big part of my life. That was a whole different world.

Food just doesn’t taste as good as it used to. I lost 10 pounds after my wife had a stroke, and quit baking those apple pies. Everything takes a lot more effort than it did not long ago. I used to enjoy downhill skiing. I haven’t done it in a few years now. A day ticket costs more than a couple of runs down the hill are worth, and I’m sure that’s as many as I would be good for. Plus, my balance is not what it used to be.

My older brother used to say that a man looks at women his age or younger, and the older he gets the more women he enjoys looking at. I guess that’s probably true, but life was never meant to be a spectator sport. Ah youth! I’m reminded of the song that says, “Methuselah lived nine hundred years, but who calls that livin’ when no gal will give in, to no man whose nine hundred years.”

Enough complaining, I’m happy to be here. I do believe that if one lives long enough they ought to learn something. I won’t claim I have, but I feel less inhibited about saying what I think. As one gets older it gets more difficult to make friends of many people in the prime of their life. They tend to see you as a bit obsolete, and they’re harder to keep up with. At 88, I’m a very different person than I was at other times. Every age is different, as life is a process of growth and change. May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com