It Ain't Easy Being Old!

I remember my mother saying that old age had nothing to recommend it.  Please understand, that she wasn't saying that she was done with life, just that nothing was as she expected it to be.

Sure, the kids are older, but so are you.  Sometimes those things you wanted to do are a lot more challenging then you remember them being.  Case in point, I wanted to demonstrate sock-mopping at the FPEA convention...except I couldn't talk after I demonstrated.  And since talking was what I was there to do, well, chalk up another humbling experience.

And when I'm finally a grandmother, I'm gonna need a crane to get up after playing on the floor. I guess that's out too. The really sad part is that the parts that still work are no longer located in the same place they were 40 years ago. But as my mother would have said, "That's enough whining about that!" 

I should have been paying closer attention when I was younger.  At my grandmother's funeral, one of her friends was, shall we say, jet propelled.  At the time I didn't understand why she went out in public if she wasn't able to control the problem.  Tain't that easy, people!  And in any case, most of her contemporaries probably didn't hear well enough to recognize the "problem". 

Lest you think I've gone off the deep end, the reason I'm thinking about this again is because we have a geriatric dog.  This is only my third dog.  The first two lived 17 1/2 years each.  The first 14 years are pretty good.  Then the parts start to wear out.  They also become jet propelled.  The wallpaper peels off the walls in self defense.  They go out, forget they've been out and ask to go out again.  Then they come in and poop on the carpet.  This is with the doggy Aricept to help with senility (it will only take you so far).  They struggle to get up and groan when they lay down.  BUT (and this is very important) they check the beds to be sure that everyone is home, bark to greet the mailman, and lead you to their food bowl every night precisely at 6:30 pm.  The tail wags every time they see you, because they are happy with their lives, exactly as they are.

We can learn a lot from a dog.  Even if things don't perform as they used to, there is still value. There can still be contentment.  My mother also used to say that she was aware that we were watching as she took care of Dog #1, and since we were picking her nursing home, she wanted to be sure to set a good example!

So, as you go through your week, value the "seasoned ones" in your life.  And send them a card...they love that.  While you're at it, send cards to the young ones who are away from home.  They'll love it, and someday, when you are a "seasoned one" maybe they'll return the favor.  And you'll love that!  Let's be kind to each other. In fact, I think I'll go scratch some dog ears.

Feeling blessed, how about you?