BATTERIES AND GLUE

As we grow older, we cannot do some of the things we used to do as well as we used to do them nor as fast. And sometimes we cannot do them at all. That truth is often very difficult to accept especially when our mind tells us that we are really not as old as we are and, thus, should be able to do whatever we want. As my Mom got older and older, she used to look into the bathroom mirror and ask herself, “Who is that old lady looking at me.” And then she just laughed.

Arlena’s Mom, ninety-five and still going strong, readily admits that she no longer can do what she once did. She has a pacemaker to keep the heart steady. Several weeks ago she had to have a tooth removed to get at a bad abscess. After the procedure was completed, the orthodontist handed her the tooth he removed and told it to take it to her dentist who would glue it back in place. She did and he did. Now she tells us that she runs on batteries and is kept together by glue.

As our Moms continually remind us both from the grave (my Mom) and from the kitchen table (Arlena’s Mom), if you do not have a sense of humor as you grow older, aging is going to be rough going. Sometimes all you can do is smile amidst the pain as you struggle to get up from that table after sitting there a little too long. But as they say, struggling to get up from the table is better than the alternative.

Aging is never easy. I have two artificial hips, the first of which had to be replaced because it was defective. I am no longer allowed to go out for a jog. Of course, I have never in my life been tempted to do such a silly thing even when in my younger days I jogged a few 20 K races, which were really endurances and not races. The first 20 K I entered the winner was crossing the finish line as I crossed the half-way mark.

See what I mean? Sometimes we are the cause of the need for batteries and glue, for artificial hips and knees, and sometimes it is just the process of getting older. All those aches and pains are a reminder that sooner or later there will be no more aches and pains as my Mom now experiences. In the meantime, as we grow older, our lives have to slow down because our bodies force them to.

It is the process of growing older gracefully and gratefully. Not being able to do what we once did allows us now to do things we can do and never did or certainly did not do as we now do. I, for one, am grateful for that and am graced to be able to do what I can do even if I am limited in one way or another.

Whether it is batteries and glue, prosthetic hips, false teeth, a cane or walker or simply the aches and pains of a well-used body that keeps us together and slows us down, life is still worth living. We all, no matter how old or how young, no matter in peak physical condition or slowed to a crawl, we still have a lot to give and a lot to live for.