Fifty Three Years and Counting!

At 1:52 a.m., fifty three years ago today, at Berea Community Hospital in Berea, OH, I made my debut into this world. Hard to believe that I am only three years away from eligibility to retire from my job with full benefits. Most days, I don't really feel my age, although I do wake up most mornings now with stiffness in various joints, reminding me that I am no longer in the spring of my years. I have confirmed arthritis in my hands and knees and had surgery two years ago on my left hand due to complications of arthritis, but it has healed well and there is only just the slightest bit of residual stiffness in the joint on my index finger where I had a ganglion cyst removed. It is tough, however, to experience pain and stiffness in my hands and pain in my knees when I do certain things, particularly my left knee, which has been bad for many long years due to a very long ago car-bicycle accident. Still, I persevere through it and it doesn't stop me from doing what I love to do. I work out with a personal trainer, although I do have to be careful doing certain exercises like squats and lunges, which can be hard on bad knees. I enjoy hiking trails, particularly in the autumn months when the trees are ablaze with color and the weather is far cooler. I've been a T'ai Chi student for nearly 8 years now and again, there are certain moves which require me to be a bit more careful than I used to have to be owing to my bad left knee, but aside from making some minor adjustments so as not to strain it too badly, I can still do most of what I need to do in order to successfully practice this ancient martial art. Arthritis aside, though, I enjoy robust health thanks to taking good care of myself, keeping my weight down and making sure that all my numbers are good (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, weight, etc.). I feel fortunate that I am healthier than many people I know who are my age or younger.

About the only thing that I have been very bad about neglecting is regular trips to the dentist. The one I grew up with retired and his practice was taken over by a very young and handsome dentist who I truly liked, but a few years into his practice, he retired while still in his 30's, leaving me without a dentist. That was back in 1993 and I haven't been to one since, although I do brush regularly, including my gums. I have finally resolved that it's time to get back to good dental health so I have found a dentist nearby and have made an appointment with him in the next few weeks, because I have had a cavity on my left upper back molar for some time now that really needs a filling, and I truly ought to get my old childhood fillings replaced as well. My teeth have become far too sensitive, particularly to cold foods and drinks, that makes it downright uncomfortable to eat anything that is cold. It hurts like mad so I'd like to discuss this with the dentist and if it's just a matter of getting the old fillings replaced, well, I'm all for it. So I am finally addressing that part of things because I know how important good dental health is to the rest of your health and I have been sadly neglectful of that aspect of things for almost 20 years now. The things that have held me back for so long are fears of not having enough insurance coverage to take care of my dental needs and fears of having an overly sensitive gag reflex that makes it hard for me to cope with having anything done in the back of my mouth where it needs to be fixed. Well, it turns out that my dental insurance is actually pretty good and the dentist will probably be able to help me out with the gag reflex thing. We'll see. I hope he understands, because I've been fearful of gagging so badly that I'd "fling my Keeblers", so to speak, all over the dentist's lap. At my age, that could prove to be highly embarrassing.

So here I am, 53 years old, my hair is silver, I have wrinkles around my eyes, my jowls are beginning to sag ever so slightly and I am cursed with the middle aged bulge that most of us have to cope with at our ages, despite staying physically active. My joints ache, creak and moan with certain activities. My photos make me look like I have no chin to speak of, which I totally hate. I wear trifocals and am totally dependent on them to read and do other tasks. In other words, I am dealing with the typical complaints of middle age. But all that aside, I count myself fortunate to be, as one friend put it, "on the right side of the sod". Given how many friends I have lost in recent days who were my age or younger, I count myself fortunate to be here, despite the curses of middle age. I have my family, who I adore, my friends, who are the best anyone could hope for, all the activities in which I am involved, that keep me young at heart, my church family, that keep me grounded yet lift me up spiritually, and a job that, despite bad days when I wonder what I must have been thinking when I accepted it 27 years ago, still provides me with a great deal of satisfaction in spite of it all. I consider myself blessed in so many ways. I'm alive, healthy, working when so many of my friends have lost jobs, and have many reasons to be thankful for all that life has blessed me with these 53 years I've been on this earth.