Yesterday was my 76th birthday. 76 Trombones!

I had expected it would be just like any birthday. Yes, there were the delightful calls from the kids, and from some friends. There was the special treatment from my loving wife. But there was something else. Something I had not expected.

For the first time, I began to feel my age. Shocking. Why? Because I had always felt like 42 Okay, 55. Well, certainly not more that 58 years old.

How did it feel? –- I mean, how did it really feel to be all of my 76 years?

It felt like I had more mucous in my throat. I had more stuffiness in my nose. And, with even moderate exertion, I felt almost wiped out.

See a doctor, you say?

Yes, I will. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with a new physician at Kaiser. My regular doctor left Kaiser two weeks ago.

What will I tell my new doctor? I will ask her to do blood work, and other tests to see if what I am experiencing is just “feeling my years,” or something more sinister.

I will give her a short history of my symptoms, and hope she will prove to be a wise, sympathetic, and thorough physician.

I hope she will be a master diagnostician. I hope she will tenaciously search for the underlying causes of my symptoms. And, of course, I hope she says I am fine.

How do I really know that I am not in the tip-top shape I was in just days ago? Well, I cancelled an hour-long birthday-present massage scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Hey, I am already feeling a bit better. Why? It’s a combination of talking to you, and feeling my nasal passages open up, thanks to a couple of puffs of nasal spray.

I think I will be just fine. All I need to do is get used to being my age, which means to take it easy, and exert myself less. That’s life.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen51@gmail.com