In the dumps, as they say

I'd like to write something light and witty today. Really I would. But I don't feel light and witty. I feel down and glum and foggy-brained. Don't know why, could be hormones or it could be genetic. They've recently identified what they think is a genetic marker for depression. And today I learn that baldness may be due to a defect, a flaw, in stem cells. Not that I am going bald, mind you. I am just destined to have very thinned out hair. I am reasonably sure that I inherited that trait from Mom. Dad passed away at age 84 with a full head of bushy "salt and pepper" (more salt than pepper) hair.

But mild depression runs in my family. So I have always suspected a genetic component. It isn't so much a bi-polar thing or deep depression, just a mild, lingering moroseness that pervades our lives. It is, no doubt, a factor in our curmudgeonly personalities. We are not a family of optimists... except on Mom's side. A real batch of Pollyannas on that side of the family. When you think about it, it is a surprise we don't have any bi-polar types running around.

Or maybe we do... moodiness is what we call it. One day up, a few days down is fairly common among us. But not so anyone would notice. I mean I have rarely spent the night painting my bedroom a bright red. Or wandering around babbling to myself. Well, other than on here. I do have mood swings, though, fairly wide ones. They seem normal to me.

I have nothing anyone might call "acute." I would categorize it as "mildly persistent." They don't treat that, you know. It has to be bad enough to attract attention. Attack someone or attempt suicide. The rest of the world just lives with it. We expect bad days, interspersed with good days. And we apologize for our behavior.


It also tends to mess up my golf game. Which is what really irks me.