As I listen to my joints creek, and my bones crack (when I walk up stairs, I have a knee that sounds like a soaking wet sponge when it hits the ground), I can’t help but wonder when I crossed the line to ‘old’!
Was it when I reached menopause? Not hardly, menopause was great. . .not a single hot flash! It was a transition that brought me joy. . .JOY I tell you. . .PERIOD!
Perhaps it was when I retired? I don’t think that was it either. I was rather worried about my husband and I retiring together. . .I figured that being together all the time with those everyday annoyances would get the best of us, and at some point we’d kill each other, but that was a worry for nothing. We’ve had a terrific retirement so far. Jerry does his thing, fishing, his ‘Wednesday Breakfast Club’ with the guys, helping at our son Eric’s farm, and even my at our son Todd’s apartment in New York city. . .I have mine, beach hunting (mostly for fossils now), my Blogs. . . and together we enjoy antiquing.
My favorite part of retirement is being able to sleep in. . .I LOVE it!!!! I have always hated getting up in the morning, especially to an alarm clock. I was usually up before it would go off. Being an early riser was never my thing. . .not in grade school, or high school, or even for work. It got to a point that I even hated to get up early to go somewhere that I really enjoyed going, like to the flea market, or for the October Fest. Yeah, yeah, I know that there are those people who get up at 5am everyday, no matter what. . . Well, blah, blah, blah. . .I say to you, why?????? I can’t think of anything that there is to do that’s worthwhile at 5am!!! I stay up late, sometimes 2 or 3am, and I sleep until at least 10am (this is slowly becoming 10:30 or 11am). It took me so long to admit that out loud. . .there seems to be a stigma of some sort if you like to sleep in. I also have a major problem falling asleep sometimes because I’m thinking way too much. . .all sorts of things run through my mind, one right after another.
All those creeks and cracks in my joints I blame on bending for hours at the beach, and cheerleading (could possibly be all the falls that I have taken over the years without breaking a single bone). I was a cheerleader in high school for three years. We were required to bounce in a crouched position, then jump as high as we could spreading our extremities and arching our backs. When we landed, it was hard and the only protection for our feet were plain old 1960’s style sneakers, with no support whatsoever!! Of course at the time, we thought nothing of it. . .but now, all that bouncing and arching has caught up with me.
Maybe it’s watching my face slowly slough down past my chin, creating some lovely jowls. I have often thought that we should be born with a knob on the top of our heads, that could be tightened as we get older, pulling up all the excess skin that we seem to accumulate as the years go by. . .God, let’s talk. No fuss, no muss, no surgery!!
Perhaps it’s the fact that Jerry and I have been having dinner rather early. . .so we eat at 3:30, who says dinner has to be at 5 or 6pm, or even later? Hmm?. . .seems to me that the other day we ate at 2:30. . .OK, moving on.
Now, let’s talk business. . .it must be that Jerry and I recently became Grandparents for the first time, our Grandson, Henrik Finn was born last October. . .UH! What a SWEETIE PIE!!!
We’re grandparents now, we MUST BE OLD!! I think back to how my grandparents always looked, old. . .in the eyes of a child you know. But grandma’s and grandpa’s are different now, they get right in there with the grandchildren. I even considered being called something other than “Grandma”, but I actually love being called “Grandma”. . .and I wear it proudly!!!
They say that “you’re only as old as you feel”, well, that doesn’t work for me because I usually feel like crap. . .if I feel this way now, what will I feel like when I get older. . .warm crap?
Oh well, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no set line. . .we move on in life, accept the things that happen to us, and be very thankful that we’ve gotten this far. After all, even with the aches and pains and creaky joints, the gray hair, the wrinkles, and everything else that goes along with our mature years, if we’re here to worry about it, then we count our blessings.
