I’ve been wanting for some time to tell you about this, and now seems like a good time to do it.

I’m aware that many of you have been trying to reach me by or on Facebook or Twitter, and I have never responded. Here’s why.

A couple of years ago, a sister of my daughter-in-law took my picture and entered me on Facebook. I looked at it some months later and friended a number of people. I also found the type to be too small for me to read comfortably. Thus, I am not an active Facebook member and never look at it.

I was diagnosed with glaucoma a few years ago, and the disease has brought drastic changes to my life, the most important of which is that I can no longer drive. So I’m stuck at home, depending on son John on his days off work. I can easily read my email and whatever is displayed on my big-screen computer monitor. If I have friended you or you me, my number is 972-234-6134. Friends only, please.

On another subject, I firmly believe that everyone older than 21 should write his or her own obituary. I was upset to read a friend’s obit that her kids made look like an incomplete junior high assignment. One of the best short obits I’ve ever seen told of the deceased’s love of camping, fishing and slot machines. It named her first, second and third husbands, and it notes that she is survived by her fourth. Write your own, folks, and make it as you would like to be remembered.

I live alone in the house the Ryans bought when moving to Texas from Pocatello. We brought myself, wife Marguerite, her mother, four sons, a poodle and a Siamese cat. That’s why we needed a large house. I believe that as long as I’m still on my feet, this is better than life in a retirement village or an assisted living facility. Am I right?

So even though I have arthritic hands and find it difficult to sit at the computer long, I’ll keep pumping out the columns as long as you will read them. Besides, writing toward a deadline keeps my mind active.

Pocatello native Bill Ryan is a retired UPI editor who was earlier with Idaho State University. He lives in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, and can be reached at wryan1807@aol.com.