Life Is Good, But Not Always A Joke

Two baby boys are born at the same time, same hospital and put in adjoining bassinets. They spend three days together. Period. Parents take them away. One family moves east, the other moves west. The boys grow up, lose their baby teeth, break whatever boys break, graduate from high school. One goes into the Navy as an enlisted man. The other does college ROTC and winds up an Army officer. Both have fairly successful careers in business.

Each man marries. One marries three times. One only once. They have 5 children between them. They go through the same joys and sorrows of babyhood, youth, adolescence, etc., themselves, then with their own kids. Then with their grandkids. This goes on for about 70 years. Then each one gets sick and, by coincidence, they wind up as old men in the same hospital, where they were born, side by side as they were the day they were born.

Both are terminally ill - something they know when they are lucid. One or the other is pretty much out of it most of them time, but there are rare moments when they each wake up at the same time and look at the other.

Finally, in one of those rare simultaneous moments, one of them looks at the other and says:

"So, what did you think?"

A joke, maybe, but not so funny.

So what's the point? The point is whatever you get from it. Life happens, it goes away. So what's the point?

I think it makes more sense the older you are.

Which brings me to the following letter. It is from a very thoughtful reader commenting on a recent column. His letter hit home because my mother, a retired fed, died earlier this year from complications caused by Alzheimers. Her last few months were horrible but would have been much worse if she hadn't had a wonderful federal health plan, LTC, and a lifetime inflation-indexed annuity. It made her last days (and ours) as good as they could be.

But that's me. This is his letter:

I've been a longtime reader of your columns and listener to your programs on FederalNewsRadio. I'm a retired fed now, but still an avid reader and listener! I have always appreciated the fact that, besides being very timely and informative about current issues of interest, you also provide a "reality check" for us feds. Today's column (Compared To What?) is just such a reality check.

It's so easy to complain when we have something to complain about. compared to the masses, we feds and retired feds have it so much better than many. Sure it could be better…but it also could be a lot worse. Things we take for granted in federal service include our annual and sick leave benefits (and flexibility), flexible/alternative work schedules, health benefits which we can take into retirement, to name but a few. Your columns serve to remind and educate us to these benefits of federal employment. Thank you!

I just lost my wife to a long, drawn out decline due to an early-onset form of Alzheimer's disease. While I had significant costs related to day care while I was working, and more recently, long term care expenses, FSA feds helped make the costs bearable, since I could reduce my tax liability with the payroll deductions. My federal health benefits covered practically all of our medical costs and practically all costs associated with hospice care in the last year. For that I have to be grateful. Again, thanks for the periodic "reality checks". Keep up the good work! We all need some grounding on a regular basis!

Now, on with the rest of my life. Larry

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com