I was walking barefoot on the beach the other day. The surface was at a slight slant and I wasn\u2019t paying attention. Next thing I knew, I\u2019d stubbed my toe and nearly toppled over. It\u2019s not the first time this has happened, but it\u2019s the first time I accepted it wasn\u2019t an anomaly, that it was happening more often than it should. Darn! Another of those things, that if I ask my doctor about, I\u2019ll get the same response I always get, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to expect that at your age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, I don\u2019t ask, I figure it out on my own. Yet, these growing old challenges, and the need to adjust to new limitations is always a surprise. If you are in your 20\u2019s and 30\u2019s reading this, and thinking, \u201cIt will never happen to me,\u201d you\u2019re mistaken. I had that same cocky attitude when I was your age. But, old is in your future and the challenges it will impose. You\u2019ll have to confront them. Or, rather, they will confront you. Sooner than you think. If it hasn\u2019t already started.<\/p>\n
I was in my late 20\u2019s when it first confronted me. I learned I could no longer eat three sandwiches, two pints of milk, a slab of cake, a bag of chips and an apple for lunch. My teenage metabolism had \u201cleft the building.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until I stepped on a scale and discovered my lanky, teenage weight, of 165 had pushed over the 200 pound line. I could no longer eat everything in sight. Then, in my forties, I was forced to buy reading glasses. Something I should have done in my late thirties, but my male ego and its denial properties wouldn\u2019t accept that my visual capability had diminished. It wasn\u2019t until I could no longer read the newspaper because I couldn\u2019t hold it far enough away for my eyes to focus that I admitted I needed glasses. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve adjusted over the years, but only after periods of denial. I\u2019ve stubbed my toe on the beach a half dozen times before I accepted the fact that my muscle and tendon structure had sagged a bit and wasn\u2019t up to the task of pulling my foot up high enough to clear the ground on an irregular surface. So, I no longer can walk along and focus on the scenery; I have to watch the ground and constantly remind myself, \u201cPick up your foot, dummy!\u201d It\u2019s a challenge to think and walk at the same time. It limits my ability to gawk and affects my memory. My brain is fully occupied with walking and gawking, and has no neurons left to operate my memory. If you see me walking along the street (or on the beach) don\u2019t say, \u201cHi,\u201d It just might send me toppling to the ground. And, into the hospital.<\/p>\n