Just My Opinion

Tears with my morning coffee. That’s not the best way to start the day. Yet, that’s how it began when I turned on the news and saw one of the nation’s most beloved actors, Mickey Rooney, 91, pouring out his heart to lawmakers about the abuse that made him feel powerless against supposed loved ones.

Barbara Streisand, old? Diane Keaton, old? Michael Douglas? Steve Martin? Jane Fonda? Maybe it’s me, but I just don’t think of these entertainers as being old. Yet, there they were — featured online on the homepage of TVGuide.com in a pictorial story titled, “Old People We Love.” As I flipped through the photos and bios, I actually had to return to the headline twice just to make sure I was perusing the right story.

When I was in the first grade, I had a particular interest in the number 100. I liked the way it sounded and looked. When I informed my teacher that I planned on living to 100, she didn’t laugh.

Who would have thought two abandoned kitties we recently adopted would come to symbolize a new lease on life for all of us?

Chalk it up to sour grapes — pun intended — but I am finding it difficult to empathize with the disgruntled French who now have to wait until age 62 to retire.

When the little calico cat showed up at my office doorstep more than 20 years ago, one look at those huge green eyes, with their dark, mascara-like rims, and that “prairie dog” stance and I was instantly won over.

We arrived in Juneau on the second day of the cruise. Standing on deck as we pulled into port, we spotted a large American eagle perched on the ship’s gangplank. We weren’t in the “lower 48” anymore. We had arrived in a part of the country where even the best superlatives are inadequate.

Take it from an aficionado — Sometimes there’s something real about TV reality shows: Burnett, creator of Survivor is pitting youth against maturity during the next installment of his hit reality TV show on CBS.

It was on one of those glorious warm May days that I decided to play hooky from work and hit the beach with two friends, who were also MIA from their daily responsibilities.

Whom do I trust? If you really want to know, I trust my friends, otherwise they wouldn’t be my friends. I trust most family members; the ones I don’t I keep at arm’s length. Finally, if you want to know if I trust my government, the answer is more complicated.