On Aging

Next week the big 52 is coming to visit. I told the kids in school that we would have a breakfast to celebrate it since I was going to work this year instead of taking off, and one of them said "if you don't mind, can I ask you how old you are going to be"? Now normally they are shocked by my age and think I am much younger, but this one said "is that all?"

"Is that all?" I shrieked. "Heck, I know I am old enough to be your grandmother, but not your great great grandmother!!!"

Somewhere in the conversation, I became animated and in throwing my hands up in the air, I put my back out. It almost took my breath away and I had to hold onto a chair to keep from falling down. I suspect that this has been building---stacking wood, raking leaves, dancing like a young thing, and going a step too far in yoga may have inflamed some underused muscles.

The rest of the afternoon I was in pain, and had great difficulty getting in and out of Leah's Miata, and then in and out of the Eos. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I called Gina, my girlfriend who is a fab masseuse, and begged for an appointment, then hobbled up the stairs and eased myself into the bed and onto the heating pad.

Larryman came home and sweetly put Icy Hot on my back, and I spent hours just laying still.I am still in pain, but it has lessened, or else the meds have kicked in.......or both.

At 52 I am far from old. My spirit is still at 28 or so, but yet I treasure the lessons that 52 years have bought me. I find myself looking in the mirror, mumbling that I am getting a bit jowly, and putting my hands on either side of my face and pulling back I think "this is what you would look like if you had a face lift", and decide that it just isn't me and I am just going to be one of those funky old ladies like Louise Bourgeois. (oh I should be so talented, rich, and famous!) Besides, one wrong move and I could look like another person, and how could I deal with that?

So for now it is heat, ice, potions and lotions---and careful planning on how to take care myself so that I can eek out the next 50 years. After all, there is a lot of art left to make that is stuck in my head!! Back to the heating pad,

patti o repair