Older Not Wiser

Hello Dear Readers!

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional
Chili Davies

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

No, not Christmas. This is a summer festival. A celebration of a truly great man. A man I admire hugely. A man possessed of wit, wisdom, intelligence, an almost supernatural beauty and despite all this, an amazing, self-depreciating humbleness. 

He’s also a man who lies quite a lot.

That’s right, dear readers. This week sees the advent of my birthday.

Lies, Lies & Damn Statistics

Rather shockingly, this coming Wednesday, I turn the ripe old age of 42. A fact that both amazes and appals me in equal measure.

I’m not quite sure how 42 can be right if I’m honest. I don’t particularly feel 42 or even 41. In fact, in my mind, I’m probably about 25, maybe 30, yeah that sounds about right. I don’t think I’d go any lower than that. The creaking bones and increasingly inefficient metabolism wouldn’t let me get away with such a colossal lie, even if it be just to myself.

Of course my body in particular has never worked at what you’d call maximum capacity but the strain of the years has done nought but add to this and each year that passes only serves to amplify the effect.


via GIPHY

All In The Mind
The last couple of years in particular have been tough. I’ve ended up in hospital not once but twice in the last four years, for reasonably serious procedures and plenty of time off my feet. Not having well developed musculature in my legs to start with these periods of forced bed rest do, of course, tend to have a detrimental effect to what is not an ideal situation to start with.
 

However, as decrepit and decaying as the body may be, the mind, thankfully, remains reasonably sharp (well as sharp as my limited intellectual facilities allow anyway!) and as part of my pledge to look after myself (see Self Help) I do the utmost to ensure that this remains the case. I take the odd supplement, I try to exercise the grey matter through puzzles and crosswords and then of course, there’s my writing.

Having seen the horrific effects of dementia first hand by way of a family member, it has become something of a personal quest to ensure my mental acuity stays as sharp as possible for as long as possible and I want to avoid those effects at all cost. To remain, in charge, in control, to be able to make my own choices. I think being disabled this is even more important.

As time goes by I can see my physical situation meaning I require more help. I do not want my mind to exacerbate that in any way.

Sorry, I got a bit gloomy there for a bit didn’t I?

Road Trip

The march of time is not all negative. Not by any means. It is through the aging process that life’s lessons are learned, it is through advancing years that relationships are formed and on time’s anvil they are forged into long term friendships and loving partnerships. Life, dear readers, is a journey, one I hope has many more miles to it before the final destination is reached.

I think a birthday is a grand time to take a little time out of that relentless progress to look back, just a little bit, on the trip itself. To take a pit stop, enjoy an overpriced burger and a subpar cup of coffee at life’s services, and remember just how we got here.

Some of the miles we have travelled are understandably more difficult than others, some have stoppages, jams, and diversions and because of this we don’t always get to where we once thought we might.

 Here is the important bit though, at least for me.  However arduous the progress has been, every mile has brought us here, to this precise point. It could have been different but it isn’t, so this is where we have to now continue the progress from.

Here for me is pretty good really, and the road trip, although it has had its ups and down could have been a lot, lot worse. I’ve picked up a huge amount of the good things in life, fantastic family, friends and, of course, a wonderful wife.  I hope too that as I’ve gone on, I’ve managed to hold on to at least some of the less serious things in life.

Only A Number

I am of course a massive geek, a giant manchild, and an individual capable of level of silliness that can border on the unhealthy. You know what though? I don’t care. Sometime in life the fluffy dice need to be hung up, sometimes the stereo needs to be sung to, loudly and out of tune, and occasionally a game of bogies becomes the very noblest of pursuits. Life is too serious a matter not to be taken entirely
unseriously every now and then.  

42 I may be. Doesn’t mean I have to act it though.

Until next time…