Aging — a different perspective

Two incidents recently brought about a detour on the road through aging. The first was fairly simple. As I was waiting for the consultation on my regular semi-annual lab tests. As I was waiting for my turn I watched an elderly man hobble out — bent over, moving slowly, shuffling his feet in short steps. I watched until he disappeared. Later after the meeting with the doctor, I was checking out and had a brief interchange with the doctor and the office manager. The latter asked how I was doing. I looked at the doctor and said “she could probably tell you better than I can. I feel pretty darn good.” I don’t know why but I always like to joke with medical people.” I mentioned a couple of problems had turned up then blew it off saying I all told I am in great shape and added “and I bet I am older than that guy who just shuffled out of here.” The doctor’s eyes widened, but then she agreed” “Yes, you are.” With that and feeling good I skipped out of the place.

The second one was a little more intricate and gave a pause for the cause. I went for a consultation over an ultrasound examination of my carotid arteries, both have which have been operated on in recent years to clear blockages. (I know, hold your snickers; there WAS a reduction of blood flow to my brain. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?) Anyway in the lead-up to the meeting an aide was gathering my vital information and in the process accidentally called me old. Then she caught herself and apologized effusively.

I told her she didn’t have to apologize. I said, don’t; I AM old, I’m 78 for crying out loud.”

“Yeah but …”

“Look,” I said, “ I don’t mind being old and I don’t deny it and I don’t try to look or feel younger.

“ You can’t fix aging, but you can deal with it.”

“First you have to own it. Accept it. You are never going to be younger so why worry about that? “And you really can’t fight it.

“But you don’t have to give in to it. Keep doing what you want to do, even if you have to slow down a bit or figure out better ways to lift heavy objects and most of all (in my case anyway) stay focused on what you are doing, don’t let your mind wander when you start out to do something. That way you will have fewer times when you walk into the kitchen and forget why you went there. I'm mpot talking about the bigger things in life that take focus, but more about the minor things like walking or tying your shoes. Last wintr I was walk among the woodpiles under the cabin and instead of watching where I was going my mind went somewhere else. Not focused on where I stepped I put my full body weight onto a chunk of firewood that rolled underneath my foot, I lost my balance, twisted as I fell and landed on my back, slamming my head hard on one of the cabin's support pilings. I had to check myself for a concussion after that one. Or it can be even simpler. I have often found myself in tying up my boots, my fingers wrestling with laces for minutes at a time while my mind gos off to vist a girlfriend from 1981. That's the stuff that needs focus.

I used to joke about memory loss, minor loss anyway, like when you can’t remember the name of an actor in a movie, or that the safety lock on your chainsaw is most likely why you can’t rotate the chain. It’s because at this age you have so much more embedded in your memory than when you were younger and it takes longer to find a single bit of information. So, not an age problem but a data and machine memory storage problem. Then I read one day that there is scientific research done on this very subject and my joke is true. The mind stores immense numbers of information bytes and has difficulty finding a single fact in all that storage. I wish I had saved the article.

So, moving on, owning my age and even looking forward to what I can do at 80, which is only a year and a half away.

I have never been one to set long-term abstract goals, but one keeps turning up and popping out of that database. I don’t wish him or that guy hobbling out of the doctor’s office any ill. My aging had nothing to do with them and theirs has nothing to do with mine, except for one little thing.

I would like to outlive Keith Richards. That’s all.