Attribution: Andreas Bohnenstengel, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in suggesting one way to experience empathy for Joe as he decides to do a POTUS hand off is to compare it to the decision to sell the house and move to an independent living facility like Vista West where the keeper and Phyllis live.
It is an agonizing decision that comes with accepting that while you can still do the upkeep you should probably not be climbing up to shovel snow off the roof or cleaning out the eves troughs. And though you will miss the view and the neighbors, you will now be able to sit in a recliner and watch the blizzards and the snowfalls while somebody else does the shoveling.
And if, under a delusion, you envision it as your individual retirement as POTUS, they can accommodate you over in “assisted living.”
Accepting the brutal limitations that aging imposes on everyone is not easy and Joe just set a bit of a classy example of how to do it. The keeper and Phyllis will be keeping it in mind.
Photo by Bill Stokes