I'm pumped! I'm fired up! Only a few more weeks and I'm going to officially reach retirement age, 62. Now that may sound a bit odd, considering that getting older isn't something most people look forward to, but hey... I'm just glad to still be here. In fact, I'm rather enjoying myself... USUALLY.
Like most people, when I was younger, I thought that there was some magic age; some unknown dot on the timeline of life, where you would suddenly arrive at "old". But in the arena of public interest, I thought I would dispel that myth and give some of the youngsters a "heads-up" about getting older.
First of all, it is not an event... it is a long slow, often painful process. It sneaks up on you, little at a time. At first, you just begin to notice a few things changing, (like your hearing, your eyesight, and the ability to stand or walk) and you laugh it off and go on. Eventually, however, you begin to classify the signals and signs and not only put them in the "Uh-oh" file; you start keeping track. You begin to keep a running total, because it's not one single thing, it's a cumulative total that ultimately determines everything.
There are several categories. Some will go into the "Things I can't do as well as I used to" category. These are the ones you normally laugh off at first and just keep plodding along.
But then as you plod along, you come to the realization that there's another category; it's called "The things I can't do as long as I used to"... including plodding along. Every now and then you have to pause the plodding and rest up a bit. The older you get, the more frequent the pausing and the shorter the periods of uninterrupted plodding. That's OK, though, that's just part of it.
It's funny, too, that other people seem to notice your steady demise before you do. And they're not usually very subtle about letting you know that they notice. Like when you're smack dab in the middle of some physical task, requiring some measure of endurance, stamina, and strength, and someone comes up to you and asks; "Are you OK?" And you can tell by the look on their face that they're asking you a serious question.
You answer between the gasps for air, huff, puff, "Yeah, I'm fine", huff, puff. And then they get an even MORE serious look on their face and ask, "Are you sure?"
Precious and I recently embarked on an adventure. It wasn't intended to be an adventure, but it turned into one. In fact it prompted me to establish another category; "Things I THOUGHT I could do, but I can't".
After almost 30 years of marriage and sleeping on beds we'd bought at a garage sale, a moving sale, an estate sale, or one someone gave us, we decided we'd break down and buy a new bed. Brand new... never been slept on by somebody else, bed.
We mulled it over for 30 or 40 minutes and decided we'd splurge and buy one of those air beds where you can dial up your comfort setting and sleep like Rush Limbaugh says you can. After all, if Rush says it, it's GOT to be right... right? So we did. Of course we had to wait several weeks for it to arrive. The nice people came out to the house and promptly set it up, schooled us again on how to arrive at our perfect number, and then left with our thanks and a big smile on their faces.
It was horrible! Without question the worst bed I've ever laid on. Now this is another indication of getting older. Time was, when I could sleep standing up if I was tired enough. In fact, if I could lay down flat, I could sleep. Hard surface, soft surface, didn't matter. But as you get older, you suddenly come to the realization that you've GOT to have YOUR bed. Not just any bed... YOUR bed. We endured it as long as possible, and then we decided that we'd take advantage of their "money back guarantee". I called the nice folks at the 800 number and asked them to PLEASE come get this thing out of our house.
They did and the nice folks who came and dismantled that hideous torture device still left with our thanks and a smile on their faces. Now this is kind of where the adventure comes in. I have moved hide-a-bed sofas, refrigerators, freezers, and pianos by myself... no problem. Moving something as simple as a box springs and mattress is no big thing... right? Wrong!
My little bride decided that I needed some help. It must have been the expression on my face, or the gasping for air, I'm not sure which, but at any rate, she jumped in there to help me move them from the spare bedroom to our bedroom, until we could get a new "conventional" bed. After knocking down 3 pictures off the wall, cleaning off two shelves full of Sweetie's nic-nacs, and almost crippling my wife when the box springs fell on her foot... we got it. What would have taken me 10 minutes back in the day, took the better part of an hour, almost hobbled my bride, and wore me slap-dab out.
So when you catch yourself doing THINGS that "old" people "used" to do when you were younger, you can just smile and keep plodding along... till you have to rest, that is.
Things like driving that other 6 hours to get home so you can sleep in your own bed tonight. Things like catching yourself checking gas prices at the different places you drive past. (I used to make fun of my Dad for doing that and now I'm worse than he ever thought about being.) Things like going back to the car to get your glasses, because you KNOW you're not going to be able to read the menu without them. Things like buying your clothes because they FEEL good, not because they LOOK good. Things like making sure Thera-gesic, Rolaids, Poligrip, nose spray and Mentholatum are on the Wal-Mart list.
A few other things will also tip you off that you're getting older. Things like not screaming at the little old white haired woman who pulled right out in front of you, but rather just smiling and hoping she gets home OK. Things like not getting impatient with the little old fellow who's counting out his change in the check out line. And things like that crying child not annoying you, but rather putting you to wondering if there's something you can do to help.
Getting old isn't all that bad after all. The Bible tells the story of Abraham and Sarah and how God blessed them with a son, Isaac, when they were both over 100 years old. Perhaps the best clue for us in that whole story is when the Lord told Sarah that she would bear a child even at her age, and the Bible says, "She laughed".
Maybe she laughed because she thought the whole concept sounded ridiculous. Maybe she laughed because she DIDN'T think it sounded ridiculous. Maybe she laughed because she would FINALLY hear the sound of a child in her home, EVEN at her age.
So the next time you discover something else you can't do as well as you used to, or something you can't do as long as your used to, or even something you THOUGHT you could do, but you can't, smile anyway. At least you're not over 100 years old and expecting a baby! But then, Hey... It's Just A Thought.
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