Old age

I am not hung up on this old age thing, but I have to admit that I am old. As much as I don't want to believe it, I am old! There are symptoms that I did not have when I was younger but now, they are here, and analyzing them I came to the conclusions that they are caused by old age. Some appear occasionally, some are part of everyday life. Also, some things that were easy to do are now becoming more and more difficult, like bending down. Actually it is not the bending down it is the straightening back up that is difficult.

And that brings up an interesting question. A question that might be controversial, morally wrong or it could be right. Here it is: at this age should we run to the doctors with every unusual, uncomfortable feeling or just bear them, acknowledge them and put them aside with the self explanation that this is it, these things come with age. Why waste time and money on doctors when really there is no help?

Hate to bring up the old car parallel. Keep trying to fix the old machinery even when there is no more fix. It is very hard to admit that the end of the road is not far. Doctors generally will not agree with this scenario. They will attempt to correct whatever ails us, they will never say "why bother at this age" even if they think it. The problem is that they never look at the big picture.

It feels like swimming against the tide. It is a losing battle. Only question is how long the battle will last. Not the best feeling in the world not being able to make long range plans or as a matter of fact even short range plans.

I am not being pessimistic just being realistic. I am aware of my abilities, capabilities. Even if my brain thinks I can do certain things, my body will respond like: ho, not so fast buddy! This is not the best way to live to say the least.

Every day there are some deaths in the news and most of those arehbm in the upper 80s. Very scary, believe me. I do believe that even with the help of a cane I can walk. Occasionally we do go on longer walks and I would be lying if I said they are easy, but I do them. Recently I went to a gym with my wife. I think three times so far.

It is disheartening to experience that some things I used to do I am not able to perform now. The most difficult thing to admit is old age. Chronological age is not necessarily the mental age. Some people feel very old at 75 while some still feel young at 85 (or 87!). But reality is, that we can not cheat time. We can fool ourselves but can not fool time.

Life now is a hide and seek game. We are not able to tell what hides behind the next corner!

The ancient Egyptian sphinx asked: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? The answer? Man, who crawls as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and uses a walking stick in his twilight years.