Like the late James Frank Sanders
To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, four years ago, when I started writing on Medium, I was just a kid of 72 with a dream; a rookie who, like Sergeant Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes, “knew nothing” about this publishing platform.
Fortunately, over the decades, I had learned to search out mentors when entering unfamiliar territory.
I needed a Yoda.
Somehow, through Medium’s search engine, I stumbled upon this story by the man in the first photo, James Frank Sanders.
Why I Write in Crows Feet
No, it is not for the money.medium.com
What’s Crow’s Feet, I wondered? Frank offered this description: It’s a publication with editors who help writers. Its theme is aging, something I know about. All that sounded, well, professional. Isn’t that what I’m looking for? I also didn’t plan to write for money.
Moreover, I liked Frank’s conversational style. Maybe this forum values that kind of writing. Had I found a kindred soul? Perhaps there are others like him. And he’s 96 and still in the game.
So I shadowed Frank over his final year. And accumulated other guides, followers, and readers.
I’m now 76 and this is Medium story number 786. And, wonder of wonders, I’ve helped more than a few newcomers. Isn’t that what life is all about, playing decency forward.
Later today, I will take an Uber to Hospital MAC in San Miguel, Mexico, where Rebecca and I spend January during the cold Iowa winters. I have, what is likely, a minor health issue related to constipation.
The cause of this condition, also probable, was dehydration, common among what my Mexican friends call adultos mayores, older adults. How many times did my two brothers and I say to our mother, who would live to be Frank’s age, ‘you’ve got to drink more water.’
‘But I’m not thirsty,’ she’d reply. Oh, does that sound and feel familiar. What goes around, comes around to her oldest son, with a vengeance. And why I’ve been thinking about Frank. With the first of eight glasses of water for the day close by.
One of his themes was the importance of water intake. This story is my favorite and uncomfortably prescient.
One Way to Live Longer
It is often overlooked but it is vitalmedium.com
James Frank Sanders was the first of many Medium guides. When he was alive, his example was helpful in learning my way around this place and writing the kind of personal story that drew from one’s life in a way that made it useful to others. All Frank’s stories began with a unique anecdote, but ended with a lesson for the reader. In an increasingly solipsistic world, Frank was a giver.
Today, especially today, I’ll think about him every time I raise a glass of this nourishing clear liquid on its journey to work its sofening magic on the banks of my intestines.
Tomorrow? It’s always good to end with things unsaid.
Except.
Thank you, Mr. Sanders.
