This Business of Getting Older
I remember the first time I woke up and my knees were stiff. I was in college. I climbed out of bed and felt the creak and just sat and stared at my knees as if I didn't recognize who they belonged to. At the same time, something within me whispered that it was no emergency, only the gentle passing of time. Twenty-one year old knees start to show some wear, after all. Long gone are the halcyon days when one could play and fall from prodigious heights and suffer no ill effects. We are no longer children.
Likewise, there was a time when I could eat anything and plenty of it- burritos, hamburgers- you name it, I could eat it. I even use to drink pickle juice, believe it or not. But as I grew older, my digestive track caught up with me and let me know that my stomach was not made of iron. So now, much to my dismay, I have to think about what I'm eating- and I actually listen to the Maalox commercials when they come on.
But it's not all bad. I feel more mature and a whole lot wiser than I did when I was young. I seem to accept responsibility a lot better and working a lot doesn't bother me as much as it once did.
The bitter kid in me pouts and says that it's just the child in me dying, but I think it's something more. My whole life I've learned to hold on to your childlike innocence as long as you can, but I think there's another side to the argument I've missed:
Maybe turning older need not be tragic or the very symbol of decay; maybe in our aging we become something far more glorious than we once were, if we put in the requisite effort and time.
I refuse to simply crumble into nothingness.
Likewise, there was a time when I could eat anything and plenty of it- burritos, hamburgers- you name it, I could eat it. I even use to drink pickle juice, believe it or not. But as I grew older, my digestive track caught up with me and let me know that my stomach was not made of iron. So now, much to my dismay, I have to think about what I'm eating- and I actually listen to the Maalox commercials when they come on.
But it's not all bad. I feel more mature and a whole lot wiser than I did when I was young. I seem to accept responsibility a lot better and working a lot doesn't bother me as much as it once did.
The bitter kid in me pouts and says that it's just the child in me dying, but I think it's something more. My whole life I've learned to hold on to your childlike innocence as long as you can, but I think there's another side to the argument I've missed:
Maybe turning older need not be tragic or the very symbol of decay; maybe in our aging we become something far more glorious than we once were, if we put in the requisite effort and time.
I refuse to simply crumble into nothingness.
posted by Yorick at 10:01 AM
2 Comments:
Boy goodness, for awhile I forgot about my rc cola, I put it in the fridge a couple weeks ago, but forgot it again. I drink it now(it has ice in it)and it makes me happy. I drink it and toast you for your recent scholarship to law school!
Following my wife's non sequitur, here's a comment that's on topic.
It is amazing the things kids will eat or drink, I loved to drink pickle juice growing up. These days though I have less stomach problems than I did in college. I used to walk around with a pocket full of rolaids. It must be that I finally figured out the things that should be eaten and the things that are better left alone.
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