The Joys of Getting Old

          Getting old isn't easy and you don't really understand that truth until you get there.  Many things that you have taken for granted all of your life slowly stop working.  Most seniors learn to live with pain.  The number of meds you take begins to increase and you need special cases to keep track of them and take them at the correct time.

          I heard the story of an elderly woman who woke up and after a few minutes exclaimed that she must be dead.  Her husband asked why she would say that.  She replied "because nothing hurts this morning!"

          And nobody really cares about your changes in your health, nor do they want to hear about them.  In fact the older you become, the fewer friends you have and nobody needs you  or cares about you anymore.  It can be a very lonely time in life, especially when you need to "shelter in place".  We haven't been able to see our grandchildren for about three months even though they live nearby.  Nobody from church calls.  Being isolated is hard.

          And the pandemic has made  many things worse.  Seniors now are the likely folks to get Covid19 and even die from it.  You must take all sorts of extra precautions.  Our doctor has clearly told us that we should not attend church until there is a good vaccine available.  That could mean that we may never be able to go back again.  After 38 years we must give up serving in Awana.  

          It has affected us in many ways.  We just received a note from our dentist of 45 year who we really appreciated.  He has decided to close his practice for a number of reasons, but especially over concerns about his health and that of his staff and his patients.  That is a big blow to us, especially when I am in need of dental work to relieve some pain.  Many dentists are also temporarily closed because of the pandemic and many aren't taking new customers.  I think my dentist has made a wise choice, but it has created a real problem for us.

          Here is what maybe all of us 70+ year-olds, and those "yet-to-be", have to look forward to!

          This is something that happened at an assisted living center. The people who lived there have small apartments but they all eat at a central cafeteria. One morning one of the residents didn't show up for breakfast, so my wife went upstairs and knocked on his door to see if everything was OK. She could hear him through the door, and he said that he was running late and would be down shortly. So she went back to the dining area.

          An hour later he still hadn't arrived. So she went back up towards his room, and she found him on the stairs. He was coming down the stairs, but was having a hard time. He had a death grip on the handrail and seemed to have trouble getting his legs to work right. She told him she was going to call an ambulance, but he told her no, he wasn't in any pain and just wanted to have his breakfast. So she helped him the rest of the way down the stairs, and he had his breakfast.

          When he tried to return to his room he was completely unable to get up even the first step, so they called an ambulance for him. A couple hours later she called the hospital to see how he was doing. The receptionist there said he was fine, he just had both of his legs in one leg of his boxer shorts.

          Just wait, the older one gets, the more often events like this may happen to you.  Just smile and keep moving on.

          But there is one positive thing about getting old - heaven is getting closer, day by day.   Soon we will be done with the pandemic and all of our aches and pains.  What  a future that will be.