AGE…..IT REALLY IS A MATTER OF MIND

When do we consider ourselves old? Except from the early morning when I get out of bed feeling arthritic and slightly hung over (having had no wine to cause this feeling), I do not really consider myself old.

Sure, my first five minutes of the morning is not my best time but, once I shift into action and start the coffee brewing, feed the dog and turn up the heat a little I am fine and, when the coffee has kicked my brain into action, all is well with my world. Even the early morning news reports of covid’s galloping numbers feels a little remote to me. The figures seem to not encroach into our little place in the sun, so feel relatively untouched by it all.

Watching the news these days is like watching a fantasy movie. Covid seems unbelievable, specially since I have not heard of anyone in my extended family, or their friends, being affected. Somehow, it seems a bit unreal and I feel no immediate threat. However, I keep to the protocols in place, to do my part and keep me feeling safe.

Second item on the news is usually the idiotic happenings south of the border. This too seems within the realms of fantasy. How can one man hold a country to ransom like this. I know he has a huge following, which does nothing to reassure my hopes for a peaceful resolution to this event. However, even though we live so close to this political nightmare, it doesn’t seem real, I really feel like I am watching a rather far fetched movie.

A couple of weeks ago I took my dog out late at night for her last bathroom duty. Only when I got outside did I remember I had not picked up my flashlight. Being too lazy to go back for it, I headed to the rough ground off the complex and, suddenly found myself doing a complete face plant. I just fell flat on my face onto the gravel.

I lay there for a few seconds, too scared to move in case I had broken something but, I was unhurt except for a reconstruction of my face. With nothing broken, I staggered back home and checked myself in the bathroom mirror…AGH. After carefully rinsing off the assorted bits of gravel I stared at two split lips, a swollen nose, a swollen eye brow and road rash on my cheek. Feeling extremely old, I put on the Poly and put myself to bed.

A few days later and most of the swelling had gone, the lips are just a little bruised and I could almost drink my coffee without a straw. I thank my lucky stars that I didn’t break a bone, I guess my Guardian Angel took most of the weight of the tumble. Once again, I am feeling great and ready for action. Not that much action comes my way during this restrictive time.

Reaction from family to this mishap was that I was too old and frail for this sort of caper. I didn’t fall because I am old, I fell because I was careless. Why do younger people immediately think that a fall means incapable? That illness means it is time for the old folk’s home or that forgetting to do a certain thing means the onset of dementia?

I have always been forgetful, the doctor told me, many years ago, that I had a busy mind and was always thinking two steps ahead, so sometimes forgot what I was supposed to be doing right now. I believe this as my memory hasn’t worsened with age, I still forget things, but no more than in the past.

Age is relative. Some people are old at forty and never dream of taking the risk of doing something different, some people do fantastic things at eighty, it is just a matter of how you feel and how you think. A friend of mine went paragliding on Okanagan Lake for her eightieth birthday. Crazy yes, but she needed to remind herself and others that she was still alive. Staying home with the knitting needles is great for long winter evenings but sometimes we just have to get out and show the world that we are as young as we feel.

So, when do we declare ourselves as old? When we are too old to laugh at ourselves would seem to be the right answer to that. Meanwhile keep doing what makes you feel good, we never know how many days God has given us so we should make the most of every one of them.