Old Friends / Bookends

old_friends-bookends.mp3

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by MaxDeGroot

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Today, I took my 92-year-old parents to the eye clinic. That was planned.

They asked that we stop at an urgent care clinic on the way home, however, as my mother has developed some sores on her legs that won't heal. We figured they would clean it and redress it.

They sent her to the emergency room. The sores were far worse than they should be. She will likely be there for several days while they tend to them and get them healing properly.

This took up almost the entire day from what should have only been an hour long stop.

It also had a devastating effect on their morale. At their age, any unplanned trip to the hospital reminds them of their mortality.

I kept up a good front for them, so they would not dwell on it, but honestly, it had a devastating effect on me as well.

So, I recorded this.

When Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends album came out in 1968, I was in high school. They were in their early twenties.

This song, however, showed an amazing maturity and understanding of old age, something which, frankly, most of the music at the time, and even more so today, shows no understanding of. Old people are ignored. They are neglected. They are forgotten.

I have cherished this song for 45 years now. And today it seemed all the more poignant.

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