I have to admit, it wasn’t my idea. I haven’t jogged in years. - Bad knees. It often happens as you get older.

Last week I woke up about midnight and the room felt like it was spinning. I haven’t experienced anything like that since I rode a Tilt-a-Whirl at the county fair. I sat up on the side of the bed and realized that wasn’t a good idea. I was tilting to the right. So I laid back down.

A couple hours later a storm rolled through. Thunder woke me. I knew we were under a tornado watch, so I decided to get up, dress and wait it out in my recliner. I’ve always had an aversion to getting blown out of the house in the middle of the night in my underwear.

But when I started to get out of bed the room was spinning again. It took a few minutes to get it together and stand without falling. I was still tilting to the right, and politics hadn’t entered my mind. Tina noticed. It’s never good when your wife notices you’re tilting to the right even if she is a conservative.

Somehow I managed to get dressed, stumble out to the living room and crash into the recliner while the wind was howling outside.

Come morning I was fine. No more tilting. I marked it up to vertigo. Inner ear problem. Something I could brush off and push through.

That didn’t happen. My wife told my daughters, and my phone lit up with text messages and calls. Miss Tennessee, Miss Kentucky and Miss Maryland were circling the wagons and wanting to know what was going on with old dad.

Daughters are like that.

Me saying I was fine didn’t cut it this time. Four women weren’t settling for “I’m fine”.

My daughter that lives nearby escorted me into the doctor’s office to make certain I told him everything. That old saying, “Once a man, twice a child”, hit home for me. When your child takes you to the doctor you realize the saying is true and you are officially old.

I decided not to argue. It was time for my yearly wellness checkup anyway. I’m fortunate that my doctor and his staff are my friends. He was concerned, too.

After a series of tests were performed they scheduled me for one more test. A stress test. That’s why I went jogging.

Well, I passed the test. It appears I’m just getting older. Another year and I’ll enter my seventh decade on planet earth.

Tonight four women and one old man will rest a little easier. It’s nice to be wanted.

Nevertheless , it gets a little spooky when a Tilt-a-Whirl appears in your bedroom in the middle of the night. I can do without that little thrill.

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Rick Algood
May 14, 2021