Aging Is Not For Sissies

Does the whole aging thing belong on a blog designed for expressing personal opinion? Well, I certainly have a personal opinion about aging so, yes. And my opinion is that aging just isn't for sissies.

You know that Billy Joel song, "Only the Good Die Young?" Yeah, the real meaning of that song is that sissies can't handle aging so they die young. Has nothing at all to do with sinners vs good girls.

Not that everything about aging is bad. It isn't. It's great to awaken and know that you get another day. It's way better than the alternative which is not getting another day or having to spend it debilitated in some way. It's the best that you no longer give a hoot what anyone thinks of you and you feel free to speak as you please. I love that there is such a thing as hair color to cover the gray and that it comes in a chemical free option. I love that you can use the again process as an excuse when you lose or forget something. That also works to your advantage when you don't really forget but want to have fun with other people's sanity.

But the little things that begin to happen that let you know, in no uncertain terms, that you are, indeed, aging, tend to get to me.

Things like holding my back as I stand up. Preferring to be close to a bathroom no matter where you go. Sitting on the floor and wondering how in the hell I am going to get back up. Aching feet. Painful knees. Sore joints. Intolerance to extreme heat or cold. Getting slower in my walking pace. Less than perfect eyesight. Not being able to hear when people talk faster than the speed of light or when the environmental sounds are too loud. Beginning to get concerned if you realize that a few things seem to have come full circle. Those kinds of things.

These things don't make getting up every morning easy but we must unless we want this process to take us over earlier than necessary. An older family member once said, "If you sit down, you'll get rusty." I believe her. She lived to be 103. And she didn't do much sitting until just before her passing. If anything ever bothered her, physically, we never knew it.

One of the best things that keeps me moving is my sweet pup, Tucker. We're up every morning before the sun so we can get out and walk. If I don't want to get up get moving, too bad. Because he is in my face licking me until I do get up. The other is having somewhere to be every morning. Do I like having to go to work? Nope. Do I love my job? Yep. And, it gets me up and moving.

Even though it gets a bit more telling with each passing year that I am, indeed, aging, having something to do or somewhere to go makes it easier to get up and move even with the aches and pains that come with the process.

While I do notice that the aches and pains either get a bit more intense or a different altogether creeps up, I also know that I am not a sissy. Because I'm still getting up and moving. And yes, it may even be a bit of doing so in defiance of aging. But that's fine. Whatever keeps me going until I'm 103.

What gets y'all up and moving every day? Or am I the only one with these little signs?