Author: Morrie Markoff

Centenarian (born in 1914) who lives in Los Angeles, and is also a metal sculpture artist and the Author of "Keep Breathing," available on Amazon.com and other book seller sites.

Caution

I have a tendency to do more than I am able to.

It is important that I remember my age. 

I, for sure, don’t want to spend my last years in a hospital.

So far, I have been lucky. I will try to do my best not to push it too far. 

It has its limits. I am 107-years-old.

Hard to believe, but figures don’t lie. Best of all, I am able to get around (with the help of a walker).

With the proper glasses, I can read, and do. 

I watch the TV news programs and 60 Minutes with Danny sitting beside me.

I don’t take my luck for granted.

Most people are not that fortunate. 

I have seen many tragedies.

(March 15, 2021)

Homeless People

Danny and his wife drove me through the downtown area on the way to have a delicious lunch.

I was saddened by the many tents I saw, the many homeless people sitting in front of tents or on chairs and benches.

Questions came to my mind. 

How do they survive?

How do they get money for food?

Where do they go to the toilet?

Do they have families or children?

What I take for granted the homeless do not have, nor do they all want it.

Betty once offered $5 to a homeless person. With a look of disdain, he pushed her hand offering the money away.

Every city has a homeless problem. There are city councils passing bills making available millions of dollars trying to find a solution.

In the end – nada, but will keep trying. 

All of the homeless, as children, had families and plans for a good life.

What happened?

(March 13, 2021)

Santa Monica Beach

Walking past a group of girls on Santa Monica Beach, I heard one of them say, after looking at me, “He looks like a Greek god.”

My body developed, I believe, from my swimming.

I did not have the muscles that weightlifters did. Swimming does not build them and I was a long-distance swimmer.

Bucking against the tides (and garbage) I could swim for hours, and often did. I dove from a height of 25 feet.

I have little ego. I never brag about the “good looks” I was born with. I had nothing to do with them, period. It just happened.

(March 4, 2021)

Fairfax Farmers Market

I never thought of myself as a writer, being very mechanical.

Someone said to me, “Morrie, you are an author.”

Perhaps they are right. I find it easy to express my thoughts.

*  *  *

Danny and his wife took me to the Fairfax Farmers Market. 

Still a huge place. Not what it was when I came here in 1941, when for $1 I could buy more produce than I could carry home.

I enjoy taking them there. I enjoy seeing the activity and the hustle, the bustle.

No visitor to L.A. should miss it.

One of a kind. 

(March 11, 2021)

My Day

I had a very restless night, getting up about every hour to urinate.

I go back to bed, rarely to sleep.

I spend the rest of the early morning thinking, mostly about Betty, whom I miss.

Nothing lasts forever. 

At my age, I know I don’t have much time left and make the most of the time I do have.

I spend my time reading, and always, Danny alongside me watching the TV station CNN.

I am content.

Like some “nut,” I talk to Betty.

I try to keep her abreast of what is happening.

(March 2, 2020)

Doctors Dangerous?

Most of us have allergies, but we don’t know it.

I was lactose intolerant.

After I suffered from stomach cramps, doctor after doctor and stomach specialists advised me not to eat meat or steak.

“Stick to dairy foods. Drink lots of milk,” they said.

Those were the foods that made me the sickest.

I was lactose intolerant. A disease no doctor could diagnose because in those days food allergies were unknown.

I was a sickly kid, small for my age. Often my stomach hurt and no doctor knew why.

Suddenly, my life changed.

I had a complete turnaround.

One day, in a restaurant, I ordered a steak, fried potatoes and a side of carrots and peas. No-no foods that my doctors said I should not eat. Roughage I would not be able to digest.

How wrong they were.

I’m still around, they are not.

(February 26, 2021)

And the Band Played On

We are all of us living an episode of an early TV serial with nothing but portents of danger ahead. Woe to us unless we find a solution.

We are in deep trouble (s***) and soon.

Fortunately, our current president is fully alerted and using all the resources at our disposal to fight it head on.

I am not as alarmed. This is a critical point in world history.

All of us are in this together.

We can only wait and see how it plays out.

With good luck we will meet and defeat the deadly virus.

(February 21, 2021)

Nostalgic Trip

Yesterday, Danny and his wife took me on a most nostalgic trip through Boyle Heights and Griffith Park.

Replete with memories, scene after scene.

The weather was perfect.

The merry-go-round…the pony ride with mothers walking and holding onto their frightened kids…

A most memorable day.

(February 17, 2021)

Dr. Joe Roberts

My dentist Dr. Bob Roberts, the most competent dentist, was also an M.D. and an unusual, wonderful man.

Politically a leftist, we spent a lot of time talking about politics.

The moment I asked what I owed him, he looked at his watch.

“Morrie, I’ve got a patient waiting,” and he rushed me out of the office with the words, “You’ll pay me the next time.”

On the way out, I stopped to write a check for $100 and handed it to the secretary. She grabbed my hand.

“Thanks, Morrie, we need the money.”

I was told by a common friend that he died recently (my guess is that he was in his 80s).

With his attitude about money, I often wondered how he paid his home and office rent.

I once met his wife in a market.

I walked over to her and said, “Nice to see you.”

Startled, she looked at me.

“Morrie Markoff?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“You were one of Bob’s favorite patients.”

Loaded with purchases, after some brief conversation and with a wave to me, she was out the door.

We all meet some wonderful, unforgettable people in our life. 

Dr. Joe Roberts was one of them.

* * *

My dental problems ended the moment my dentures were inserted in my mouth.

I’ve never had pain nor spent a dime on the teeth I don’t have.

I eat everything that doesn’t move.

To date, my dentures have been trouble free.

At the beginning, I would take them to my dentist for cleaning and polishing. It was a waste of time and money.

I do that myself every night.

I hope I have not bored you with my story of my teeth.

I will leave you with this message.

Take care of your teeth. Don’t let them ever become a money and time consuming problem.

Floss and brush them everyday (or night).

As perfect and carefree as my dentures have been, they will never be as good as natural teeth.

“Lecture over.”

Have a good day, or night.

Morrie

(January 1, 2021)