Going down a flight of stairs is like the disciple Peter walking on water. We have to have faith to get down without falling. We have to keep our minds off the elements around us – gravity for one and the vision of us tumbling down them for two – and focus on each step.
Canes? Who needs a cane? Crap, I fell again. Walkers? Seriously? Me? (How many unbroken bones do I have left? It’s quicker to count the unbroken than the broken.)
Getting out of a chair can be the hardest thing you do in a day. Sometimes it is an Olympic feat. I still chuckle when I think of when we’d gone out to eat with my mother-in-law and after a hearty meal, she laughed and said we’d have to call the local crane company and have them lift her out of her seat. I’m very visual… (Yes, a construction crane, not a large bird – but any help is sometimes thoroughly appreciated.) Even though she was joking, the older I get, the more I understand her on a much deeper level.
Love your gardens? Does it take you three days to do what you used to be able to do in three hours? And do you have to break it up into three weekly segments of one hour? Do you plant taller plants now because it’s hard to bend over? When did you start planting more perennials, so you didn’t have to kneel down to plant annuals - all because you aren’t sure if you’ll be able to stand up again? Or, the ultimate sorrow, have you begun mowing down some your flower beds?
This past winter the sidewalks had about an inch or more of ice on them all through town. I so wanted to put on some ice skates! Of course, the picture of me falling on my backside and the subsequent pain (or hospital bill) was enough to abort that idea. A potential fall can stop many an idea in its tracks. Like parachuting. At a certain age, bones and joints can’t handle the abrupt stoppage when you land on your feet. If you land on your feet. Not so graceful anymore?
Speaking of stoppage…Okay I won’t. (Glad I don’t have that problem!) Or leakage…Nope. I won’t deal with that one either. Rusty pipes? Leaky pipes? Plugged pipes? Enough plumbing. Moving on…
Baseball, basketball, football, soccer, running…there’s a reason someone came up with shuffleboard and card games. No matter how deep the desire to do our younger-self fun activities, sometimes we just can’t. If we’ve continued doing them through the years, there’s a chance we can do them a bit longer, but if we gave them up at some point…yeeaaahhh, not so much.
On the other hand, we need to keep moving as much as possible. Even though we have to take our aging bodies into consideration, sometimes we have to “Just do it!” and enjoy what time we have left. We should be smart and choose something we can do without overstressing our bodies, take it slowly if we need to, use the aids – hearing, canes, etc. – when we need them, and “be careful”, as my husband is fond of saying to his children. After which, I chime in, “But have fun!” We’ve got it covered.
It's no fun getting old, but the reality is we cannot stop the passage of time and the tiring, disintegrating body. Let's embrace it. Let's do what we can do. Heck, if we're lucky, someone will throw a huge party and make a great looking, yummy cake just for us when we turn 80 or 90.
My granddaughter who excels at pretending to be an old lady.
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