Aging Gracefully

This morning I was talking to a friend and our age came up. I told him I was trying to "age gracefully." That brought a good chuckle from us both.

The opportunity to age is a big responsibility. People look up to you for advice, people look at you funny and some people don't pay any attention to you at all.

So I must focus on those seeking advice and a little wisdom from my mistakes and all I have seen. Thankfully I have built up a cadre of smart people I call my friends and mentors. They usually make me look smarter than I am.

Aging gracefully physically is no easy job. I broke a tooth eating salad of all things and got it repaired today. A piece broke off the border of one of my many gigantic fillings. I told that to one friend and he admitted he would rather have open heart surgery than go to the dentist. He said he is wringing wet when he leaves and I thought to myself he must have the wrong dentist!

It's amazing how they can "weld in" a new piece, if you are lucky that is. Mine broke at the right spot so it was fixable. But it all rememinded me, damn, my body is deteriorating! The last five years or so have been nothing but fix or repair! It's easier working on one of these confounded pieces of new machinery they design than a human being! Either one can break the bank so I won't say which is cheaper.

I do know which is more important though, and that is my health. There are a lot of babies I want to hold yet and little kids I want to hold hands with and a whole bunch of scenery I haven't seen yet or want to see again.

So I better take care of myself. The boss bought a new fancy dancy electronic scale that does everything but cut your hair. It knows your weight, age and heighth and spits out your weight, body fat and water content like a high speed computer. I thought what the heck, might as well break the thing right now, and dang, that nice little machine said I lost weight and body fat! My water content is still pretty high though, always was. I probably drink a gallon a day. I would be no good in the desert. I have proved that point, too.

The worst part of physical aging is my stride. I am losing my stride and have to take baby steps sometimes to keep from falling and killing myself. Stepping down steps in the wrong light with my lack of depth perception is a problem.

One UPS ages very quickly every time he visits. He is deathly afraid of Sable although all she wants is his treats. I didn't get to him in time this morning and she had him pinned on his van step and I heard him say, "that's all I got, I don't have any more!" I laughed but I felt sorry for him as he was once mauled by a customer's dog.

I counted and dug corn until I was blue in the face today but all in all it was a good day.

I aged rather gracefully today, thank you.

Ed