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Life, actually…

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TRAWLING FOR DEEP-SOUTH DOPPELGANGERS

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I am playing hide-and-seek today, trawling a flea mall for obscure books to adopt in order to surprise my bookshop customers.

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The thrill of the search distracts me from the unsolvable challenges of daily life.

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The market’s scattered browsers are all looking for their special interests, their fond memories. Me, I look for books and their buddies—documents, periodicals, maps, globes and the like.

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Some books hide themselves in undusted stacks. Some call out to me, others cringe and keep silent.

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Anyhow, I am having fun seeking and adopting these paginated orphans. I  clean them up, inspect and shelve them, pass them on to proper foster homes.

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“Oh, look, Granddaddy used to have one of these in his store,” a musical voice chimes from one of the dealer cubicles.

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It is the voice of my sister. But I don’t see my sister anywhere nearby. I stop to listen and verify.

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“Oh, I had one of these in the third grade,” sister Barbara’s light chuckle accompanies her observation.

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Damn, it really is my sister. What is she doing in this flea bitten place? She lives far away and seldom drives long distances alone.

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Still can’t find her, though I am peeking around corners and through antique displays to see whether I can sneak up on her.

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Her pleasant patter continues but seems to move away from me as fast as I stalk her.

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That laughing voice again.

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I forget about books and strive to see her close up and in person.

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I spot the source of her laughter. A woman her size and shape has her back to me. She is with someone I don’t know. I freeze in place.

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What if she is secretly visiting an old friend and doesn’t wish to be discovered by her baby brother? Is this a relative? A covert lover? Is she living more than one life?

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Finally, my mind stops racing when I see her face. It’s not Barbara. It is merely someone who is identical to her, someone whose DNA has perhaps by chance turned up in a stranger she’ll never meet.

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No use going up to this person to share anecdotes about coincidence and lineage. She just might think I’m a weird little old man seeking conversation. Which I am.

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I slink away to another part of the mall and resume trawling for books, my net cast wide.

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But now and then I hear Barbara’s voice. Now and then I recall the wondrous lives we have led. Now and then I need to hear her voice.

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Guess I’ll give her a call tonight

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© 2022 A.D. Jim Reed

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Life, actually…

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NEVER HAD ONE LESSON

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WHOOOO…WHOOO…

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The Birmingham-to-Tuscaloosa-to-New Orleans train whistle brings me out of a sweet 4 am dream. A dream in which I am Gene Kelly cruising effortlessly through drenching rain, not giving a dang about the discomfort of clinging wet clothing and squishy hard soled shoes. Gene Kelly, singing and smiling in perpetuity, his feet barely touching down as he floats, in love and in life.

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Someone asked me the other day, what my greatest wish is. I immediately said, “I would like to be Gene Kelly for just three minutes, just to see what it’s like to draw people out of their troubles and into a few moments of hope.”

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There, I said it. Wouldn’t it be nice to move like Gene Kelly?

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To dream the impossible dream.

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It looks so easy, doesn’t it?

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Fred Astaire once said, ”I just put my feet in the air and move them around.”

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That’s the secret. Fred and Gene want us to suspend disbelief for a moment and make us think it’s that easy to be elegant and inspiring.

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Maybe it is.

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The magician who wows me with unexpected trickery, the trapeze artist who makes me think for an instant, “Why, I could do that!”, the actor who causes me to laugh despite my comfortable gloominess, the self-confident police officer who waves me past without giving me a ticket, the caregiver who smiles while tending to a helpless patient,  the calming grandfather who transforms a child’s tears into laughter.

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These people are helpers, helping me to embrace, rather than contest, the time I have.

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We are all performers setting examples, whether we know it or not.

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Like most achievements in life, it might take years to perfect the gracefulness it takes to donate a transformative moment, a moment that someone might need desperately.

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I have many choices each day, but I feel best about myself and the world when I choose to help uplift hope rather than perpetuate fear.

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It can be as simple an act as watching Ferris Bueller playing his clarinet with horrifyingly tuneless results. The joy comes from his earnestness. He thinks he’s making beautiful music. He proudly looks straight at me and says, “Never had one lesson!” and continues his performance.

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I giggle each time this scene repeats itself. It proves that very often a giggle is exactly what is required to take seriously the next important moment of life.

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And imagining myself to be Gene Kelly for three minutes never seems to be a waste of time

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 © 2022 A.D. Jim Reed

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Life, actually…

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DEEP SOUTH AIRPORT WAITING LOT

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I’m marking time in this Deep South village airport cellphone lot.

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This array of idling vehicles constitutes a sub-village of sorts. A place of temporary inhabitants.

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Those of us who are sitting and waiting do not rent space here. We just occupy space. We scratch our phone screens. We allow ear pods to overwhelm and expurgate our thoughts. We fidget. We await the call.

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The call will let us know whether there are delayed or on-time or early arrivals. The call will let us know that the arrivers have descended safely.

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The call will free us up to focus on the next challenge, then the next.

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There is little to do but stare forth through the windshield and note our surroundings. Green hills and one-way arrows and don’t-you-dare-park-here signs. A lone grey trash receptacle and several metallic light poles and some landscaped trees.

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And people. There are people. Nestled all snug in their bubbles. Linked but oblivious of their links.

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ACs and motors hum and grumble, closed windows and locked doors replace would-be side-by-side conversations between waiting-room strangers.

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We only guess at what lies racing through each others’ minds.

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Evidence of lives being lived abound. Car tags display coded and numbered and lettered mysteries. Stickers and slogans and keyed scratches and red mud and hitches hold clues.

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Other hard-to-read-in-the-dark signs and notices tell us we had better do something or not-do-something or face the unknown consequences. A chain link fence enslaves tall ungroomed weeds.

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Fifty shades of gray clouds loll about in the dark, layered skies. Aircraft materialize and descend and ascend. Remnants of once-present objects stand purposeless.

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The ring. The voice on the phone cheerfully announces a soft landing. Onward to luggage retrieval and loved-ones reception

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Soon the second act commences. Now, breathing resumes

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© 2022 A.D. Jim Reed

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Life, actually…

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This happened long ago. But then, didn’t just about everything?

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COLD CASE GHOST RIDERS

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 What if the creator of the universe got claustrophobia and suddenly and inexplicably the universe simply wasn’t roomy enough?

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And what if said creator at once realized that by its very definition the universe was everything it could ever be and as big as it could ever get?

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And what if the creator had to really start thinking about whether infinite power and wisdom were infinite and powerful only within the universe’s own boundaries and rules?

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That’s the kind of thinking you do when you are hermetically sealed inside a cold case. A cold case containing you alone.

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A windowless unfriendly metallic air-conditioned coffin, a coffin so snug that your arms folded across your chest press against the sides of the coffin and allow you no wiggle room.

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The faceless people who placed you inside this cold and dry coffin have warned you not to move a muscle because if you move a muscle you must stay inside the coffin twice as long.

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Twice as long as eternity is about as perplexing as the idea of a creator getting claustrophobia and not being able to do anything about it without breaking finely tailored rules.

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In order to survive this icy coffin for eternity you have to figure out what to do with your mind because it is your mind that won’t leave you alone, it is your mind that keeps reminding you that you are unique among heavy-breathing animals only because you can imagine what is not and can rethink your own death a thousand times a minute before it ever occurs, thus making your own death potentially anti-climactic because of all that dress-rehearsing your mind has been doing for so long.

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And even that isn’t true because you somehow know that no matter how many times you die before dying you’ll find death as fresh and as annoying and as terrifying when it finally comes as it has been all those years you have been rehearsing for it.

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So you try to use your pesky brain against itself—that is, you try to get it to think about pleasant things you dream up, since your mind insists on thinking nonstop anyhow.

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For at least for 90 seconds you get some relief because you call up the anecdote your big sister related to you just the day before all this started happening.

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Sister Barbara was lying there some months back just like you are now, inside an air-conditioned coffin hermetically sealed against the staff members of the medical facility who were drinking paper-cupped Cokes and staring right through you when you walked toward the coffin just a while ago.

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In the city where she was receiving her MRI she was at least offered something I was not offered. She could have any kind of music she wanted to hear piped into the coffin as she lay there for a small eternity.

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She elected “her kind” of music and lo and behold, just as she was preparing herself for the thousand deaths of isolation, just as she was trying to adjust to the idea of being cut off from her entire outside life, the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” started playing and she started giggling and a stern disembodied voice told her through a cold speaker that she must try to contain herself.

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But she got through the experience.

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I could only pretend I was hearing “Ghost Riders in the Sky” since the people outside my particular coffin were making no noise at all and here I was with no ghost riders and trying mightily not to cough for fear of being punished with a longer stay inside the coldest case I’ve never imagined.

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And you know, I was kind of beginning to identify with a claustrophobic creator who just got too big for the universe…or did the universe get too small?

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The ending of this story is kind of pathetic since I never did get out of that coffin and the only comfort I have received from that experience is the knowledge that creators, too, can be trapped forever in a universe too small to contain all the kindnesses we can imagine, too small because in between the kindnesses is the detritus of the universe, the bad stuff.

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I just disregard the idea that all those left-over ghost riders are floating out there between the kindnesses.

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All this is just fine, so long as the kindnesses distract us from that other stuff

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© 2022 A.D. Jim Reed

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Cardiovascular health refers to the condition of the heart and blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. A healthy cardiovascular system supports nearly every organ, helps maintain energy levels, and allows the body to respond effectively to physical activity and everyday stress.

Because heart and circulatory problems can develop gradually, protecting cardiovascular health should be a long-term priority rather than something considered only after symptoms appear.

The Heart’s Role in the Body

The heart continuously pumps blood through a network of arteries, veins, and capillaries. This circulation delivers oxygen to tissues, transports nutrients, removes waste products, and helps regulate body temperature.

When the cardiovascular system is functioning well, the brain, muscles, kidneys, lungs, and other organs receive the blood flow they need. If circulation becomes restricted or the heart cannot pump efficiently, the effects may be felt throughout the entire body.

Common Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Several factors can increase the likelihood of developing heart or blood vessel problems. These may include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol use, and a diet high in processed foods.

Age and family history can also influence risk. Although some factors cannot be changed, many lifestyle-related risks can be reduced through consistent habits and appropriate medical care.

The Importance of Regular Exercise

Physical activity helps strengthen the heart and improve circulation. Regular exercise can also support healthy blood pressure, weight management, blood sugar control, and cholesterol levels.

Activities such as walking, swimming, cycling, dancing, and strength training can all contribute to cardiovascular fitness. Exercise does not need to be extreme to be beneficial. Consistency is generally more important than intensity, especially for people who are beginning a new routine.

Anyone with an existing heart condition or significant health concerns should speak with a healthcare professional before making major changes to their activity level.

Nutrition and Heart Health

A balanced diet can reduce strain on the cardiovascular system. Foods that support heart health often include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, fish, and sources of unsaturated fat.

Limiting excessive sodium, added sugar, highly processed foods, and saturated fat may help reduce certain risk factors. Portion control is also important, since regularly consuming more calories than the body needs can contribute to weight gain and metabolic problems.

Healthy eating does not require perfection. Small, sustainable improvements are often easier to maintain than strict short-term diets.

Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Monitoring

High blood pressure and high cholesterol may not cause noticeable symptoms, which is why regular screening is important. These conditions can gradually damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other complications.

Routine checkups allow healthcare professionals to identify changes early. Depending on the results, treatment may involve lifestyle adjustments, medication, or a combination of both.

People who already have elevated readings may need more frequent monitoring based on medical guidance.

The Effects of Smoking

Smoking damages blood vessels, reduces oxygen levels, and increases the workload placed on the heart. It also raises the risk of blood clots and contributes to the buildup of plaque inside arteries.

Stopping smoking can produce cardiovascular benefits at any age. Although quitting may be difficult, support is available through healthcare providers, counseling, medication, and structured cessation programs.

Avoiding secondhand smoke is also important, particularly for people with existing cardiovascular or respiratory conditions.

Stress and Cardiovascular Health

Short-term stress temporarily increases heart rate and blood pressure. When stress becomes chronic, it may contribute to unhealthy habits, sleep problems, inflammation, and ongoing cardiovascular strain.

Stress management techniques may include regular movement, deep breathing, meditation, time outdoors, social support, and professional counseling. Addressing the causes of stress is often just as important as practicing relaxation techniques.

Sleep and Heart Function

Sleep gives the cardiovascular system time to recover. Poor or insufficient sleep has been associated with several heart-related risk factors, including high blood pressure, weight gain, and problems with blood sugar regulation.

Most adults benefit from a regular sleep schedule and a quiet, comfortable sleep environment. Persistent snoring, breathing interruptions during sleep, or severe daytime fatigue may indicate a sleep disorder that requires medical evaluation.

Cardiovascular Care in Hospitals

Patients with heart conditions may require close monitoring, medication, diagnostic testing, surgery, or rehabilitation. During hospital care, specialized equipment helps medical teams track heart rhythm, oxygen levels, blood pressure, and circulation.

Adjustable hospital beds (go now to this website and find all the details) can also support patient comfort, safe positioning, and easier access for medical staff. For some patients, raising the upper body or legs may assist with breathing, circulation, or recovery, depending on the condition and treatment plan.

Warning Signs That Require Urgent Care

Some cardiovascular emergencies require immediate medical attention. Warning signs may include chest pain or pressure, sudden shortness of breath, fainting, severe weakness, unusual sweating, or pain spreading to the arm, back, neck, or jaw.

Stroke symptoms may include sudden facial drooping, arm weakness, difficulty speaking, vision changes, or loss of balance. Emergency services should be contacted immediately when these symptoms appear.

Prompt treatment can significantly affect the outcome of a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular event.

Preventive Care Matters

Preventive care makes it possible to identify risks before they develop into severe problems. Regular medical appointments may include blood pressure checks, cholesterol testing, diabetes screening, weight assessment, and discussions about lifestyle habits.

A healthcare provider can recommend an appropriate prevention plan based on age, family history, current health, and individual risk factors. Following prescribed treatments is also essential, even when a person feels well.

Cardiovascular health is essential for circulation, energy, organ function, and overall quality of life. Regular exercise, balanced nutrition, adequate sleep, stress management, and avoidance of smoking can all help protect the heart and blood vessels.

Routine screenings and early treatment are equally important because many cardiovascular risks develop without obvious symptoms. By taking preventive steps and responding quickly to warning signs, people can reduce the likelihood of serious complications and support better long-term health.