In a little less than a month from now I will be 58 years old! My son told me a couple of years ago that, when I was going to hit 55, he answered; “Awesome!” That kind of surprised me, to say the least. And the more I thought about it, it sounded right to me. I am wondering, now, if it’s as awesome as it was 3 years ago.
And the more I think about it, I don’t feel 58. I remember when I was younger I noticed that a lot of older people just looked and acted old. My father was one of those people. Now, I am not saying that old people are old just because they have a certain amount of age on them. Age is just a number (I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this.)
I do remember that my father complained of so many aches and pains, this hurt, and that hurt. But I have done ten times the amount of things in, let’s say, the last four years than my father did in his life time! Of course I don’t know what he did as a youngster, or his early manhood. But, in my lifetime I have done a lot.
And yes, I do have those occasional aches and pains and I attribute those to all the things that I have done in my life and they are catching up with me, today. Early on, I played football, pitched in high school, even played racquetball in my early years, thanks to the YMCA being next door to my house. And of course, you have to participate in gym class, early on. Though, I played more Chess in my early years, I was still athletic.
And throughout my life I still played softball, and ran quite a bit. I would have to say, then, I was running about five miles a day. And I ran two half-marathons. I don’t run as often as I would like. I still love running, but the “old” body doesn’t like it. I am in the process of re-training myself to run again. As of about a month or so ago I could do a half a mile before I conked out. Not really from getting tired, winded, but since 2006, after retirement, (AR), I have been getting shin splints, not all the time but enough to know the pain.
But as of today and most of last week, it has been cold and slippery. It was about nine degrees this morning and I think it’s about 15 now. And my street is a sheet of ice! And I fell a couple of months ago on a sheet of ice! I will wait until some sort of thaw comes, during this global warming thing. Heck it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, then the temp will drop into the single digits on Wednesday.
And I mean painful shin splints! Hopefully by the spring and a new pair of running shoes, I will be running again, I will be walking until then. But, really, all my life I have played through the pain. That was just me. I can’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t let things get me down! I remember, some time ago, in my mid-twenties I had my tonsils removed. When I got home, the very next day I went out and ran. Of course, later I was so sick I was forced to bed rest. And that has happened to me often, during my life.
And, I guess, the worst was in 2006. That year I had my prostate removed. I was laid up for several weeks. I couldn’t really do anything, considering I had a catheter inserted for 10 days. After it was removed I did get up and around, but I also laid around more often than not. In August of that same year I had to have my knee repaired, because of one of those gym things I shouldn’t have done.
At the beginning of September, in 2006, bowling started and in October racquetball started. And I was as sure as heck I wasn't going to be left out. I remember feeling spent, but I participated anyway. By December, my elbow was hurting so bad I had to quit both bowling and racquetball and started therapy in January.
Aches and pains. They are a matter of life, I would have to say. I hear my oldest son complain more often than not about what is hurting him. More than my father did! And he’ll be 31 this year. To top it off, I have been hearing a lot of my generation complain of aches and pains. But I ain’t mad at em. Some pains are genetics and other are because of accidents. Hey, S*it happens.
Aches and pains. You know, as I sit here and type, I have a pain in my butt! Really, I do. The one thing I hated about my job, before I retired, was that I sat a lot, way too much and that hour to work and that two hour commute home didn’t help much at all. Now, my butt hurts when I sit, so I either have to stand or lay down when I watch TV.
But, I really can’t say that as fact. Think about it…what am I doing right now? I mean, though, I have been washing cloths, so I have to get up every now and then. But I have to do that or my butt talks to me!
Aches and pains…gosh, I remember, I was in the gym, as of 2006, for at least 4 hours a day. And to offset those pains I was taking about 800 milligrams of Motrin a day! But those were good pains. Pains that were telling me that I was doing something right with my body. Because it wasn’t like that every day. Some days I just felt downright great! Other days…ouch.
I have never really been out of touch with my body. Well, I guess that’s not really true. I have had my ups and downs. I remember when I got married, the second time, I was weighing about 155 pounds and bench pressing 300 pounds! By the end of that marriage I weighted in at 280!
Then, it was easy to take the weight off. Besides I was fasting four times a year for at least one week per fast. And during those fasts I was still running at least
Oh yeah…aches and pains. The list goes on. But, I play through them. I have to. I really don’t want moss to grow on my butt from lack of movement and I don’t mean bowel movement!
OUCH! I just got up to go to the bathroom and now my back is hurting! Too much sitting? Maybe…but I have to go on. No complaints here, kind of.
Yeah, 58 years old. Heck, it’s just a number. You are only as old as you think, etc… life has to go on…blab, blab, blab. I am guessing that there will be more aches and pains as I get older, I will have to learn to live with em, I guess though, and you can’t live without em! Go figure.
Racquetball anyone? I’ll race ya! Okay, how about a nice quiet game of chess, poker, anyone up to it, pains and all?
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