Getting Old

When my father got home from work he used to tell the family that he was going to read the newspaper.  He then proceeded into the living, grabbed the paper, and fell asleep within ten minutes.  There was "hell" to be paid if anyone woke my father up from "reading the newspaper".  I guess the acorn doesn't fall from the tree . . . I now catch myself falling asleep reading the newspaper before supper.  It is a drag getting older!

One of the things that I have discovered about getting older is that my mind often disagrees with my body about what it means to get older.  My mind seems to think that I am a thirty-some year old person, while my body likes to remind me that the wear and tear on the ol' body adds up to fifty-something.  Sadly, I listen to my mind more often than my body and I usually get to pay a price for such inclinations.  My body just laughs at my mind, "You fool!"

For example, today.  Today I decided that I needed to do the yard work before the predicted rain set in. I needed to finish trimming the neighbor's lilac bushes, clean out the wife's gardens, and do the usual scoop the poop detail.  The mind said, a couple of hours.  The body . . .  well, the body just laughed and cringed.  What the mind was promising as a couple of hours turned out to be closer to eight hours.  I had really hoped that the rain would start and I could quit, but it never did rain.  Thus it was that I labored for over eight hours trimming bushes, burning branches and leaves, chopping down flowers and plants, and yes, scooping poop.  Having finally stopped and actually sat down my body is telling me, "I told you so," with each little ache and pain that is knocking on the door of my mind.  It is a drag getting older!  The backyard looks great though!

 
In my elderly wisdom I have come to the conclusion that I have a problem--it is my mind.  It needs to grow up and act its age.  Either that of I need to start listening to my body more often, but the problem with the body is that it never speaks up until it is way too late.  By the time that my body speaks up I have already run it through abuse that I get to pay while listening to a sound track of my body laughing.  Every time that I pull this stunt of abusing my body my mind is off playing in some fantasy land where there is no age--no limits--and apparently no pain.  My mind has a terrible memory!

The wife will attest to that.  According to the wife I do not remember everything that she tells me . . . I am not sure that is a poor memory or selective hearing.  Whatever the case, I just do not remember as well as I used to.  Names are tough for me to remember, but they always have been.  I recognize the faces, but often time have difficulty remembering the names.  To compensate for this I have just started calling everyone "Bud" or "Buddy".  The wife didn't appreciate that the other day when I tolde her, "Thanks, Buddy." 

There are advantages for having a poor memory.  The best advantage is that everything always seems to be new.  When you can't remember the past the past is always new!  Life is always a new adventure no matter how many times I have walked down the same path.  I am always meeting new people even though I have know lots of them for quite some time.  Old jokes are always good for a laugh--again and again and again! 

Yes, getting old is a drag and I guess that the majority of the time I listen to the mind and not the body when it comes to age.  My father used to tell me that being Southern was all a state of mind--so is age.  At least that is what I thought until the past 48-hours.  Some things have happened in my life in the past 48-hours that have made me stop and consider that maybe I should listen to the body a little more than I do.  The body has definitely sent me a memo in the past two days that has gotten my attention--a sort of wake-up call.  I think I need to listen.  It all has to do with getting older, the body acting its age, and my having listened to the mind for way too long.

Yeah getting older is a drag, but I am not quite ready to share what the body has been telling me lately.  I need to get some answers about what the body is telling me so that I will be better able to share exactly what it is telling me.  That might take a couple of days, but in the meantime the weather forecasters are only predicting a 50 percent chance of rain tomorrow . . . I should be able to get the yard mowed and the front yard cleaned up for winter.  Probably talking a couple of hours.  What's that noise I hear?  Could it be my body laughing?