Time Marches On
Figure Out How To Keep Up
Yesterday, Facebook memories reminded me that a dear friend of the family had passed away on that date two years ago. And as I browsed through the comments from other friends to that post, about 40 in all, it occurred to me that three (THREE!) of the friends making the comments had died since then.
I just shut down memories for that day. That felt like a little much.
I’m not a woe is me kind of guy. Life’s short, sure. I’m getting older, yup. But I’ve generally thought of impermanence as a strength, not a weakness - an opportunity to make sure you suck all the life out of life. Don’t leave anything behind.
But the curious part of the timing of this for me was that I also had a doctor appointment that same day to check out my bum knee. About 20 years ago, I had a nasty climbing spill that jarred my knee into a big swollen mess. It’s bugged me one way or another ever since. The doctor back then told me I’d have to be dealing with it twenty years later so, well, here we are.
I expected the doc to tell me that something was wrong with my ACL or there was some cartilage damage, but he seemed to think that it was “only” arthritis.
Only.
I’ll go get an x-ray next week so make sure, but he seemed pretty optimistic and unconcerned about it. Happens all the time. You know, just getting up there in the tree rings and all.
Sigh.
It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m still pretty spry for a feller of my advanced wisdom. But speaking of wisdom, I am going to have to start taking the advice of my wife, the smart person in the house, and eating more vegetables and getting up and walking around in the middle of the day sometimes. Looks like there’s way more dog walks on my horizon.
Plus the doc thought at the very least I ought to start stretching more regularly. That checks out. There’s no way I’m going to be able to keep up with Little Bean on the floor of an AC/DC concert with my knees screaming at me as well - at least not if my goal is to be the oldest fart at a heavy metal concert.
Time marches on, I just need to be certain I’m marching along with it!
As my older brother likes to say, “Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies!” But it sure does beat the alternative!
I'm still getting over having watched my odometer roll over to its latest decade, Dan: it gets harder each year not to notice that my life references are less salient, parents all look a bit younger, and the stairs a bit steeper.
Of course, kids all stay the same age, and Spring brings as much joy as it ever has. 🌷