One of my resolutions I always try to knock out early in the New Year is taking care of all my routine medical checkups.
It’s easy to let those things slide. Life really is like a garden – you can let a few days go by without pulling weeds but pretty soon there are weeds up to your armpits and you can’t find the squash. All you can do is bush hog and hope for the best.
I had made an appointment to have my eyes checked. I admit it had been several years since my last exam. My intention was to get one of those mono-vision contacts so I could read without glasses. I can never find my glasses.
While checking my vision, the doctor asked, “ Did you drive here?” sounding glad that she had not been on the road in the past hour.
“Yes, why?” I asked.
“Well, it looks like you have been in a fog for sometime.” The doc smiled.
That was true, turns out I needed glasses, serious ones. I needed glasses to see things that were further away than the hood of my truck, plus reading.
She fitted me with contact lenses and I could see things I had no idea I was missing. I could read menus, newspapers and road signs. I am still miffed that no one told me about the hair growing out of my ears that I could now see.
Getting older is interesting. Many things don’t work as well as they did when I was younger. Besides my eyes, my sense of smell, my hearing is not that good either. Sometimes that is not a bad thing, especially when Jilda is asking me to do a chore I am not excited about. These days I can honestly say I didn’t hear her.
Stuff starts to fade away, not over night but slowly. I am not bitter about aging and I don’t want to complain, because I love my age whatever it is. I am just glad to be here.
I love the quote on aging by Samuel Ullman, “Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideas. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up on enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”
My face might look like a Shar Pei, but I feel like my soul is as smooth as a baby’s bottom.
A note from Jilda, Sunday, January 15, would have been Rick’s 72ond birthday. He loved to celebrate his birthday, usually at the beach or in the mountains. It thrilled him for friends and family to wish him a happy birthday.
Happy Birthday Rick, I love you more.
