Journey into Senior Citizenship

I'm sure you've heard it; "He's a grouchy old coot! She's a cranky old witch!" etc. Here's what I have figured out about why. You get up in the morning slowly because the inactivity has caused the arthritis to stiffen up your joints and there's very little of your body that doesn't ache. You've been lying down so when you stand up, the blood leaves your head to circulate through the rest of you so you're a little wobbly. Slowly, you start your day. You spend several minutes taking the medication regimen the doctor has you on so your heart will keep beating, your blood pressure will be mostly normal, your thyroid will function correctly, and your diabetes won't put you in a coma. If you have to drive somewhere, you go a little slower than the young people, mostly because your reflexes are slower and besides, you've learned that getting somewhere a couple of minutes sooner, really isn't life changing. You finally make it to the checkout stand and you're writing a check and the person waiting is obviously short on patience and making you even more nervous than you already were from dodging 30 mile an hour children in the aisles. Your hand has some trouble gripping a pen, so it takes you awhile to write everything out and people's moans and groans won't make you go any faster. God forbid you have to try to go through a door with your walker because there are few people who will hold a door anymore for anyone, let alone a cranky old goat! Here's my point for all you not yet at the cranky stage of life people. We reached this point in life faster than we anticipated and so will you!!! I promise I will try to be less cranky and grouchy if you promise to have more patience and acceptance. Remember, your day is coming fast!

Journey to Senior-citizenship

So I was shopping at my favorite variety store the other day and I saw an item that I thought I could really use. The problem was I had nothing else in my cart yet and my pride was yelling at me, "What if you run into someone you know? Do you want them to know you need that?" So I thought "I can go on through the store and come back by here on my way out and then I'll have something I can hide it under in the cart. But what if I forget to come back this way? (I've been known to forget things occasionally.) So began the battle of brain against pride!! My brain said, "Many people younger than you need this product. What's the big deal?" My pride said, "Are you kidding? It's a sure sign you're old when you need this! If someone sees you, you'll have to change your name and move away or forever be the butt of jokes." My brain said, "Get over yourself. You are aging but so is everyone else." My pride said, "Yes, but so far you've been aging fairly nicely. Do you want to give that up?" Finally I decided my brain was right. I am getting older and it's okay to need some assistance with certain things and maybe I should just relax and give in to the idea that, for me, this is necessary at this time and if anyone thinks it's funny, okay. I've brightened someone's day by giving them a laugh or two. So I threw the magnifying glass in the cart and went on with my shopping, proud to be a Senior Citizen.

It's been so long since I've sat down to write, I actually had trouble signing in. I wish I could say that I've been really busy doing wonderful awe-inspiring things and I haven't had time, but I can't. Unfortunately, I've learned that one of the "perks" of being my age is a flagging memory. I might be doing some chore when I get an idea for the blog and I think "I will write that down" and the next thing you know, I'm doing something else and I've forgotten to write down my wonderful idea. I figure, though, that if I remember to finish the chore I'm in the middle of, I'm doing okay. I did remember to get dressed today so that's a step in the right direction. I seriously try to look for the positives in getting older. I get a discount at lots of places. More people hold doors for me. People often ask me for my opinion on things. although most of the time I think they're thinking, "She's so old-fashioned." What most young people don't realize is that the old ideas seem to stand the test of time. Things my grandmother believed to be true are still true today. If you don't believe me, you can read it in the Book. That's the Bible for those who don't read it regularly enough to recognize the idea. I've found most of my help comes from there. Give it a try.