The Old Coot explains the
process.
By Merlin Lessler
The aging process we humans
undergo is steady, silent, but hidden much of the time. It’s not just something
we encounter in old age, when more drastic alterations to our physical and
mental conditions occur. It’s with us our entire life, though for years it goes
unnoticed. When we’re kids, we don’t usually notice it until an adult looks us
over and says, “Wow, you’re growing like a weed, really getting big!”
We get periodic wake-up
calls; they become most noticeable in our teens and then again in our thirty’s.
I still remember my first big, aging alarm; It hit me when I was showing my young
daughters how I could do a running flip and land on my feet. I ran, I bent
down, planted my hands on the ground and flipped. But, not all the way around,
not far enough to land on my feet. I landed flat on my back. It hurt my ego a
lot more than my backside.
A sign of aging pokes its head
out every so often, reminding us that the process is proceeding. When the
doctor first said to me, “You have to expect that at your age.” I was in my
fifties. Just more evidence that the physical vehicle I was traveling in was
amassing six digit numbers on the odometer. Eventually, we hop on the “old coot”
roller coaster, where the aging process comes out from behind the curtain and
walks by our side.
We fight it. With denial.
“I may not be able to jump very high or run as fast as a turtle, but I’ll get
better,” That’s what we tell ourselves. “It’s just a temporary thing.” Oh, how
comfortable the denial stage is. Eventually, we hit an acceptance stage. We learn
to laugh at our infirmities. It’s like we’re in an amusement park with a wide
variety of attractions: sore back one day, weak knee another, stiff neck that
won’t let you look left and a hundred other “amusements.” Once you reach this plateau,
all you can do is keep laughing, smile, groan & moan a little, and carry
on. What the heck; you couldn’t wait to get in to an amusement park when you
were a kid; now you’re in one every day. Enjoy it!
Comments? Complaints? Send
to mlessler7@gmail.com
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