Older Age Moving In?

Man, it would be nice to be young again. As I mentioned, I'm now 59 years old. I'm starting to see more advanced signs of aging in and on my body. It's not a welcome sight. For one thing, as you all know, I can't do all the things I used to do. It's not for lack of trying. But I had to start to accept the fact that what I could do when I was thirty is no longer true. I used to be very good at basketball, softball, and football. I played for the Air Force softball team as the shortshort. I was agile, quick, and deadly accurate when throwing runners out. In basketball, I played for a Filipino team as the only import. I averaged 26 point a game, and could jump a mile. That's mostly all gone now. I can still catch a softball very well, but I don't have the mobility any more. Bad knees and bad back. I can't run full court games in basketball any more. Too dangerous, my family says, and too likely I might get heat stroke or worse. It's very humbling to get older. Now I see skin spots on my arms and legs, sagging of the skin in some places (I really hate that!), and tighter, less flexible joints. Yes, of course, it's all the things that happen when you start to get older. That doesn't mean I have to like it. I try to stay active, but in the end, it's always the same story for everyone. Now I have to learn how to accept it, if that's possible, and still live a good, full life that is active.

When I go to the school to pick up my son, I watch the guys playing full court ball. They usually age from the teens to the thirty's. When I watch them, I know that I am better than them. I know I can still shoot better than 95% of them. But the problem is that I can't jump high any more, and it starts to hurt too much to run down the court. I have flashbacks to what I used to do. I think that is the most painful thing to me. The remembering part. I remember twenty and thirty years ago being part of numerous teams in numerous countries. These guys will never know all the things I have done, or accomplished. Why should they know? It's all water under the bridge.

I know there are a lot of you who are not at my age yet. My only advise to you, if you will accept it, is to join in everything you can. Make the most out of every opportunity. Never say you're too busy. Be a part of something all the time. One day you, like me, will look back at your life. You will be able to say, I did that, or you will have to say, I WISH I had done that. There is nothing new here that you have not heard before many times. But the catch is, do you, or did you, pay any attention to it? Did it sink in? There are many of you who are my age or older, and you can relate to all or most of the symptoms I have. It's only going to get worse, God willing that I'm still alive for a while.

I find myself looking on the internet for what can reduce blood pressure, tighten skin, and other such stuff. It's a little crazy to me. When you're young, none of these thoughts even enters your head. You think you will be around forever. Well, it ain't gonna happen. Now I have to find hobbies or activities that I can do at my age, and still get some enjoyment from. Mine is fishing, building things, and working on my motorcycles. It keeps me busy. Also running our little local store every day is helpful. My wife is younger than me, and has the youthful, babylike face of most asians in this area. I envy that. Most of them look ten or fifteen years younger than they really are. I have been told I look like I'm around 52. I guess that's a compliment in a way. Not much of one to me, but alot better than someone saying I look 65 or older.

I'm still fairly strong. I am getting what some people call "old man strength". I don't think that's a good thing, because it has the word "old" in it. It means to me that I'm on the downswing. On the backside. On the follow-thru, and all that other golf terminology. Sometimes I even get a bit upset at the way some people look at me. That look that says"yeah, I bet he was fairly good-looking when he was younger"; or the look that says "you can tell he was athletic before". Before! Ouch! I even get some looks from women that tell me they would be interested if I was not so old! You know that look? I do!

But, as God willed it, we all must get older. We have no choice but to accept that our bodies and minds will go downhill. This, at the present time, if one of the things that we can't control or stop. Who knows what will happen in the future. We may live longer; much longer; if we don't kill ourself off with war before then. Many of you are, unwillingly maybe, my partners in crime. I know that many of you are searching the internet for answers on how to live longer, be prettier or more handsome, tighten up that sagging skin, and replace lost hair. It's kind of sad the lengths we will go thru for vanity. But, it's also very natural. None of us want to let go of what we used to have.

So we all continue the fight. Myself included. How do we fight off advancing age? How do we keep ourselves looking good? But, mostly, how do we stay healthy? Those are the real questions we want answers to, aren't they?