Getting Older

Joe and I were walking today, and he said, "We're slowing down, aren't we?( as two snails overtook us) Boy, was that an understatement! I have to admit that getting older is for the birds, and as a friend of mine always says, "It's not for the faint of heart." For me and most other women, it means going through menopausal symptoms and some of them have been quite awful. My husband said, "You find where your prostrate is, and wish you hadn't." Then you are feeling pains where you never felt them before. You know you are getting older when everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work. Then there is the medicine we have to take for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and arthritis, etc...and to add to the insult, then being told by the doctor, that it is all because you are getting older. In other words, don't bother me, live with it. I heard a funny joke recently on tv that sort of summed it all up. A wife says," Let's go upstairs and make love," and the husband answers, "Honey, I can't do both." Well, there's no point of complaining, because as Joe says, "There is only one thing worse than getting old.and that is not getting old." I look in the mirror, see the grey hairs and wrinkles and wonder what happened to that young chipper woman of yesteryear. Now, we go on the bus and some of the drivers give us a reduction...Joe says that it is probably because of me...His beard has turned white as snow, but even though I love him for saying that, I know that it is not true. Hey, one way to look at it is that when we are 66 , we will have free bus fare...not all that bad when you think of it. Joe and I are both approaching 60 years....I have two years to go, and Joe is one year away from the big "60." I can proudly say that we still walk at least 3-5 miles a day. We never skip our daily walk. This year, we walked around Horn Head, and found out that we had walked 12 miles...We barely made it home, but I would guess that not too many people can say that they did that. We have since then walked to Tramore a few times....8 miles round trip...and done some very long walks indeed. Well, we have each other, and growing older is not that bad when I know that I have my Joe. The secret is to think positively and not have any mirrors in the house. Actually, we only have a wee bathroom mirror, thank God! LOL
Finally, growing older has meant that we are finally retired, and that Joe and I can spend every day together, and basically do what we want, when we want. A friend of mine just told me that she has 17 classes to teach a day....I don't envy that at all. I am spending my time with Joe, and feel, in spite of growing older, I am the luckiest woman in the world. One thing that we haven't lost is our sense of humour, and we can still laugh at life's absurdities, of which there are many.