I am pitiful and walk with a cane. Actually I like my cane, as I have said before. Last nite, as I drove home there was a weird noise on the left side of my car. I figured my rear window was open a little. Or my muffler was falling off. Or... This morning, I pulled out and stopped on the road because the noise was sooo weird, now. (We don't have traffic here; it is against my religion). I got out and looked under the back from afar, cuz that is as low as I can bend, and saw a branch that must have shifted when I backed out. So, I put my can handle under the car, hooked the branch handily and pulled a few different ways. My cane saved the day, and my knees, again! Now I am SURE my muffler will fall off. (No I don't really have muffler problems. But I may have loosened something without being able to look.) It just amazes me that having new sets of challenges, being older, we have to find new ways to do things.
I hate getting to be an old man. I have fought the process, but now my body seems to be working against me. The air in Austin keeps my throat raw. I don't have a traditional, hurts to swallow, sore throat, but things just don't feel right. Next week I will call to have a complete allergy work up. If they can't give me drops or shots to end my throat problems, then I will start traveling to different parts of the US to see if I can find some breathable, for me, air. Failing that, I will decide how much longer I want to exist. I am not so sure that I agree that the alternative to life is worse. I pretty much hate our species, hate what it's done to this once healthy planet, hate what it keeps doing to members of its own kind. When I think I've seen the lowest we can go, I'm always proven wrong! (I was just in Uvalde, a few weeks ago. Nice town that now has surely lost its innocence. Very sad, indeed. )
Most of the time, I am happy being old; but sometimes I do get sad that I can’t still do everything that I did when I was younger and wish that I could be young enough to do those things again. Watching horses on Youtube is great, but just not the same as being out there on the trail, riding my Tennessee Walker or my Peruvian Paso in the Cascades, and I cherish my memories. I think that it was Abraham Lincoln that said a person is about as happy as they choose to be, and that makes a lot of sense to me. Since I like being happy much better than miserable, I try very hard to enjoy life each and every day. Some days, the sky is falling, no matter what I do; but most days it is pretty much dependent on my attitude. I have a dear friend in Idaho, and she is sad all the time, no matter what. If she won a million dollars, she would be upset that someone was going to steal it, or something like that. She called me the other day, just to tell me how she was doing, and even though life was pretty much the same as normal, every few minutes, she would heave a big sigh, and say “This too shall pass”, in the most despondent voice. Nothing was wrong, nothing was different……. she just meets every day with despair instead of hope.
Dunno TG. It’s kind of like the “does a falling tree make a sound if no one is there listening” scenario. I’m in line with what Epictetus has to say about our existence via color. He wrote; (paraphrased) * Mankind is the only species on earth who can see color but what if he could only see black and white and not have the ability to see color? How could men marvel at and glorify Zeus for his work? On the other hand, what if mankind could see color and everything was black and white? No, God has provided color that mankind can see so that He may be glorified and be known for His good works. * In other words, if we weren’t here to see what God has done, how then would God be glorified by man? But back to the OP, I’m rather enjoying getting older. I know more than I did, I’m better built than I was and I’m much, much wiser than I was. I have a wonderful wife, a good life and I can do and enjoy everything I want to enjoy without a schedule to abide by. There may come a day when my body says no more, my brain turns to jello, become a total curmudgeon and can’t even mow my lawn without a map but until that day comes I’m going to make every minute count. Do note though: I bought my very first reacher thingy for when I’m on the riding lawnmower on another property. I can reach paper and stuff without bothering to get off the mower. I MUST be getting old.
Have you ever counted how many things are wrong on your body now? I am starting to. from forehead to waist. Peppered gray hair , eyes, going blurry, hard of hearing (wear aids, not due to old age) teeth and gum issues, as in forever, neck pain, window shaded boobs, moles, and other age related spots. Expanded waist line. From waist down, yes there are many ailments here, Increased weight all over, More moles and other spots, weak body frame- depending on what day it is. Thunder thighs, really messed up knees, right leg is some what bigger than the left- medical issue . And re occurring athletics foot peeling. I will spare you wrongs on the inside. But ,with clothes on, hair done, a tad of make up, hearing aids with fresh batteries, glasses, bra attached, doctored foot, shoes on. Oh, honey I am ready to go -
Window shade boobs. lol. I used to tell people I am glad I don't ride anymore because when I would trot I would get black eyes. Think about it.
Heidi this post reminds me of my favorite senior lady on Y.T. I've been watching her for a couple years or more.