Growing Old------Side Affects

Now, it is not that I am really that old, but 69 is rather an eye-opener I never really thought about when I was a young dude. While I knew there would be some side affects of this predicament, I never really sat down and listed them. The reason is that some of them just showed up and it seemed like a reasonable thing to do to quit playing rugby (broke another finger doing calisthenics) in about 1967. Done with that.

 Then, it was basketball when I was 48. Acting stupid on the court by cheating to compensate for my noticeable lack of movement, closed that door. I left the gym in tears knowing it was over.

However, mostly, things felt good and I was able to do almost any activity up until I was, say, sixty. This would include fishing, hunting, chasing Ann, hiking, shooting my mouth of with great gusto. Gardening was a favorite and snowshoeing still is delightful but anything involving violence is out---meaning like falling down in a feather bed. Leisurely, is the key word or is it moderation.

Sure, I have a shinny artificial hip and long list of nagging injuries and none of the 4 or 5 concussions (the ones I can remember) seem to have impaired my thinking---as near as I can tell, but I do get some strange looks from Ann while trying to explain Game Theory or The Red Queen Syndrome.Ya, there is a hitch in my giddy-up but so what?

But here is the deal I do not like about this aging thing, the side affects. Every time I get a new pain, it is almost impossible not to think, "Is this the big? The one that will put me down for the dirt nap?" It is nuts but a few days ago I had this strange pain in my jaw (still there a little), for no reason, a pain in the my right jaw---I know the flapping one. It also seemed to maybe be in my ear. I took the usual couple of vitamin I (Ibuprofen) and did some reading still being distracted by the new pain-in-the-ass jaw thing.

The real problem comes about after one goes to bed, a time when the brain has a tendency to function a touch erratically, drifts in odd directions, in places uncomfortable, places the daylight would not tolerate . It focuses on some of the damnedest things and in a half sleep, all sorts of images show up, none of them pleasant, most involve suffering and ultimate death. Sometimes it even shows up in deep sleep and on at least one occasion, I dreamed very realistically I had signed out. I even tried to wake myself and could not, so I just excepted it.  I was gone. Very uncomfortable side affect of this thing called age.

I suspect this is an occurring  experience of all age-challenged people. I am complaining because I don't like it. Today, in a more rational state, I seem to be generally OK. What little pain will be next? I'll call the priest.