NAPA SOCIALITES

PASSING AWAY IN PROSPERITY

It was Howard who passed away. A client and friend for years. During my time of knowing Howard, he went on some strange kinds of diets and ate rich foods. He told me shortly before he died that he used to play tennis. I was surprised, because I have never seen him away from the dining room table. He told me he quit playing about 15 years ago. Then I said, that is when you started having health problems. He said, yes in amazement.

When I turned 50, I cut out eating so much meat and rich foods. I used to eat duck liver, my favorite, once a month, now I eat it once a year. Yet I see my cousins or friends my age , still eat rich foods. My cousins tell me that their high blood pressure and high cholesterol is because of their genes. But I have the same genes.

So my righteous opinion; "why are we worrying about what a heart attack feels like, why not prevent one in the first place?"

I was very sad to see Howard wither away so quickly and die and I was angry at the doctors that gave him all the pills and at Howard himself for going to them. He was staying for the last year near me so I got to see him a few times. He was brilliant and alert till they gave him morphine for the pain of a leg infection. A bacteria leg infection that amputated one leg and then was attacking the other leg. An infection that was resistant to antibiotics, a bacteria he got in the hospital.

Of course Howard was 86 years old, some say it was his time. But I ran into one of his friends the same day who is 90, that was taking out the trash on his farm. He was complaining about the food industry and the food people eat and the pills that they take. At 90, he still worked his land but would no longer get up on his horses. He told me, "I am 90, I am too old to ride those horses!" I see this old guy walk every day near me, on the other side of the highway from Howard's retirement home where Howard just sat.

The retirement home, where if you walk down through the halls you will see the names on the doors as the Who's Who of the Napa Wine Country. You can see all the famous names, the affluent names of those in the wine region on these doors in this retirement hospital. Then I see the bodies waiting in ... ?

I guess I am not aging gracefully. This is a hot button that irks me so; eating to kill oneself...