There have been a few interviews in this job that I would call life-changing.
At the top of the list, of course, is the 1980 interview at the Atlantic YMCA about a new program offering there. The source for that story stood with me two years later at the alter of the Fonda OLGC church as we exchanged wedding vows.
If I'm going to maximize the number of years I can stay upright and hold up my end of that relationship, I need to pay attention to the healthy living lessons given in a conversation last week with Murray softball coach Danny Jensen.
He and wife Dorothy shared with me the harrowing experience of Danny's heart attack last fall, and his recovery and return to the softball coaching reins for the Mustangs this spring.
I admitted to my wife Deb that she'd been saying many of the same things for years. But, there's something about hearing it from someone who reminds you of yourself. It hits home that it could have been me.
Danny and I are roughly the same age — he's 55 and I turn 53 on Saturday. We played men's league basketball together in Creston, and we still hit the court frequently in pickup games. In fact, that's where he was stricken, although he says it was bound to happen to him somewhere, given his 70-percent artery blockage.
We both have the acid reflux condition, one time hitting me with such chest pain that I was examined at the emergency room for possible heart problems. We both lead busy lives and coach with some intensity. But, he's in a different stratosphere, with more than 600 varsity softball wins in nearly 1,000 games.
We have less than stellar family history when it comes to heart disease, with cholesterol levels that moved above 200 as we got into our 50s. And, the main vice for both of us has been a steady stream of Mountain Dew, or as a friend once described it, "nectar of the gods."
So, when Jensen described the feeling as he left a pickup game on Oct. 25, that his body moved in slow motion before he was hit with crippling chest pain, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. He had my attention.
Like the "Scared Straight" documentary film geared toward juvenile criminals, I took mental notes in hearing Jensen's healthy living testimony. I've already switched from 2 percent milk to 1 percent — "wean yourself toward no-fat," he said — and I'm working toward wheat blends in bread instead of my trusty white Wonder bread.
Not that I'm always going to behave at team potluck banquets. Even Jensen cheats occasionally, so I'm leaving myself an opening for occasional "recreational" eating. I can't go to the Iowa State Fair and not order chocolate-covered cheesecake on a stick, for example.
Jensen's doctor said red meat should be eaten 6 ounces at a time, so I expect more take-home bags for leftover lunches, starting with my birthday dinner tonight.
If Jensen can cut down to one Mountain Dew a day, on doctor's orders, I figured I could decrease the number in my day and substitute more bottles of water.
Deb, of course, finds all this rather hilarious. She's been preaching many of these things since those early years in Atlantic, when my father was experiencing heart issues in his 60s.
Likewise, Jensen's four younger brothers got the wake-up call, and did the stress-test. Or, rather, were ordered to do so by their wives.
Jensen said his wife was OK with him returning to coaching, because she knew it was inevitable.
"I'm a coach and she knows that," Jensen said. "I told her I'll probably die one of two places — on the softball field, or on the golf course."
There may be one clear positive coming out of this conversation with Jensen. Especially if we get another winter like the last one.
"Doctors told me I can never shovel snow again," Jensen said. "My advice to you would be the same. Don't do it. They say the combination of temperature and work load is just too much. They see a lot of heart attacks from scooping snow. Get a snow blower. It's worth it."
OK, NOW I'm really listening!
•••
• Creston left fielder Jill Johnson may have accomplished a first at CHS as a senior, or at least a few of us old guys standing around at a game recently couldn't think of any others.
In the same year, Johnson was Creston High School's homecoming queen, valedictorian and shared athlete of the year honors.
• A reminder to former Creston football players, the retirement party for coach Dick Bergstrom is 7 p.m. July 24 at A&G Lounge.
• A Des Moines Register reader pointed out many of us in this business missed a golden headline opportunity as the United States bowed out of World Cup contention:
Going, going, Ghana