Age is Just a Number, I Think

Age is Just a Number, I Think

In a few months I will turn 65.  There I said it.  I don’t know why I am letting this bother me so much but I am.  It seems like I am feeling more aches and pains as time goes on.  In my mind I think I am younger than my real age.  But when I go to the mailbox, it is full of letters from companies that want me to choose them for my health care needs, or consider their site as my final resting place.  These are things I don’t even want to think about.  I just can’t be old enough to have to make these decisions yet. 

            If you have ever been on the Queen Mary do you remember that in the passenger’s rooms the lights were softer and the mirrors made the ladies look better than they actually did?  I think I would like one of those mirrors in my bathroom, along with softer lighting.   Some days the mirror is kinder to me than others.  When I wake up I see new wrinkles where there were none just the day before.  How could this happen overnight? Should I buy some silk pillowcases?  Does this just happen to me?  What will come next, a wart on my chin and a hair that grows out of it???  I hate this aging process.  But I have a friend who always says that any day above ground is a good day.  I wholeheartedly agree.

            With age comes wisdom, right?  I do remember those younger thinner days of my youth but I would not want to go back there for anything.  I think that for me being 64 is a lot like being 12.  When I turned 12, I was no longer a little girl but I was not a teenager either.  I didn’t know quite how to act.  I feel like that now.  I am not really old but I am not young either.   I guess I just have to take each day as it comes.  If I need to slow down a little then I will just accept it and not feel bad about myself.   Even if I move a little slower at least I am moving.  My food choices are never going to be perfect every day, but I am much more aware of what I put in my mouth.   Getting older is going to take some time for me to adjust to.  I am going to have to keep in mind what my friend says.  Any day above ground is a good day.    

             

Idle Hands are the Devil's Workshop

Idle Hands are the Devil’s Workshop

Have you ever heard this saying?  I have heard it most of my life and have pretty much bought into it.   As a child, I had to help out a lot at home since both of my parents worked.  Each day and especially on the weekend there were so many chores that needed to get done.  I am really going to date myself when I tell you I know how to operate a wringer washer without getting my hands or fingers caught in it.  I have wiped off the outside clothesline before hanging anything on it.  I learned the hard way what happened if you didn’t.  I was ironing clothes at a very young age and still take pride in how well I can do this task today.  There is not a wrinkle that can stand up to my skillful hands when it comes to ironing.  The house I grew up in did not have carpet.  Each floor was covered in shiny linoleum and it had to be mopped and waxed every week.  To this day I hate mopping.  I will take laundry over mopping any day of the week. 

            I think the phrase idle hands are the devil’s workshop was meant to scare me into never sitting and doing nothing when there was work to be done while I lived at home.   As a child I did not stop to think what this meant exactly, but I knew I wanted nothing to do with the devil so I just kept on dusting, washing and ironing those clothes, and mopping and waxing the linoleum.  Out of necessity, I also learned how to cook at the early age of seven or eight.  I could fry potatoes, make cornbread, and cook beans.  Those were my specialties.  Any southern girl should be able to make those favorites any day of the week.  To this day potatoes are one of my favorite vegetables, right next to fried green tomatoes, which are number one. 

            Last night I had the privilege of spending several hours at a Halloween party at the happiest place on earth.  It was one of those rare times when all of us could be together as a family.  When we have to juggle four schedules, it is not often we can all be at the same place at the same time.  Even though it was amazing, my little short legs were so tired after walking around for five hours straight. 

When I got up this morning, my first thought was, “Today I am not going to do anything.”  My second thought was, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  Then my third thought was, “ I am not buying into this any more.  I am retired and I have put in enough years not being idle.”  It feels like I am throwing a temper tantrum today but frankly I don’t care.  I went to the garden to water the vegetables and I was delighted to see that there are two green tomatoes growing.  They are about the size of a large marble, but it is a start.   The plot next to me has two huge tomato plants growing and as I looked more closely I saw that there were several green tomatoes about the size of softballs.  Oh I was briefly tempted to take one, since there were so many. But then I remembered that idle hands were the devil’s workshop.  So I quickly exited the garden and drove home.  I think I will get busy and bake some cookies.  My hands won’t be idle and cooking is one of the things I love to do.  I can still have my day where I am not going to do one thing I don’t want to.