Getting Old

 

     I have come to the conclusion that getting old is only a matter of mind over matter. If you spend your days sitting in a rocker on the front porch waiting to meet your maker then it doesn't matter that you're getting old but if you find a good reason to get out of bed every morning then you don't mind getting old. I choose to find reasons for getting out of bed every morning. Having reached the age of 78 years and several months, I don't think I'm bragging but, I have come to consider myself somewhat of an expert on getting old. For one thing it's not what I thought it was going to be like. Upon looking around I'm better off than a lot of guys my age and a damn sight better than some who are younger and I still have my hair though it is a distinctive shade of grey but then it makes me look very distinctive.

     Now don't misunderstand, in addition to the grey hair, I'm a little overweight, have one bad knee, lots of arthritis, tend to get up slowly at times and my skin has the consistency of crepe paper but I have a heart that some fifty year olds would love to have. While my body seems to have getting old down to a science my brain is still trying to figure out what is happening. I can remember things from when I was barely out of diapers but often can't remember what I had for lunch until sometime the next day. It's like I have been around for so long that my brain is filled with every thing I have ever known and it's filled with the memories of every day of my life so that it is clogged up and operating slower than it did years ago. I have plenty of "senior moments" yet I'm still quite sharp, I think that's because I keep it busy doing things. Here's the thing about the aging brain, if you are one of those that don't mind getting old then the mind stays young. My brain tells me all the time that I'm still in my twenties, "go ahead, you can do that, you've done this plenty of times, no guts no glory", in the mean time my body is laughing at me.

     The culprit for all for all the issues with the body and brain are the eyes. No matter what the brain and body are feeling it's the eyes that see the things that each require as substance to keep them going.It like the eyes see a double decker cheese burger with fries, the brain says "wow that looks delicious" and the body says 'I'm starving, let's eat" then the body gets stuffed and gas and the brain says you're the one who ate it all and the argument starts. The eyes see things the way they once were and trick the brain into believing what they see then the brain tricks the body into believing it's all possible and when everything goes wrong because the body and brain bought into the charade the eyes play the innocent part. I still see the world through youthful eyes, blue skies, warm summer breezes, sunshine and lollipops, it doesn't matter that it's cold and rainy outside, I look for the good things because I am an optimist.

     Nobody prepares you for getting old, not that you would listen when you're in your twenties. There  are instruction books about aging but few ever read them because they are in denial even when they really are old. I never dreamed I would get this old I thought somewhere in my sixties would be the max for me but as you can see I'm pushing 80 and looking forward to getting there. Actually, I have decided that if my uncle Paul can make it well into his 90's then I might have a chance myself so now the race is on, 95 here I come. 

     Back in 1959 a TV program called "The Twilight Zone" aired and ran for a few years. It was a science fiction type show dealing with life in a different reality, sometimes it was scary, sometimes just weird and sometimes thought provoking. Most of all it beat watching Lawrence Welk so I liked it. All this talk about getting old made me remember a couple of particular episodes. In one episode people were born old and aged young, it was great being born retired and able to do all the things you want to do. Another episode took place in an old folks home, it was visited by a man who told the residents they could be young again and convinced them it could happen so most followed him. They went off to play a game called "kick the can", eventually only the laughter and cries of young children could be heard as they ran off in the darkness. Those two episodes have stood out in my memory banks for years but I really should watch them again as a refresher. 

     So when you get to the age that your body aches and makes noises when you move, when you walk a little bent over or shuffle your feet, when you have several doctors and a drawer full of pills just remember it's all in your mind and how you see life will determine how you're going to spend the rest of it. The desire to stay young is in all of us, feed it, you'll get old soon enough.