I'm Old ~ It's Official!!

Whenever you tell him where something is—predictably—my grandson says, ‘I can’t see it!’. If it’s not immediately visible to him, and he can’t see it, he can’t believe it exists—he’s two and a half. I’m a bit older and I'm still inclined to the same way of ‘seeing is believing’. 

Some things we don’t want to see or hear at all. 

Like the ophthalmologist has just told me I have age-related cataracts. Apparently, you can get cataracts at a young age too, but I will soon be (gulp!!) 65, and that’s when they could become a nuisance. I can mostly see fog from my right eye—a bit like this…... 

‘You can get it fixed—it depends on your ‘Life Style’—the ophthalmologist said drily. I thought, ‘What kind of life style would I need to have where it didn’t matter that I could only see fog?!’ Perhaps I could become a weather man spotting fog. Any fog I spotted that was worse than mine would immediately warrant an alert! 

To be honest, I ummed and ahhed about posting this note to you all and wondered why. It’s kind of obvious really. Vanity(?) and the mind doesn’t want to be associated with its failing host—the body. Put it another way, the Self—‘I’—don’t want to admit to getting older. Or, let’s be truthful, getting old—but it’s a fact. One that’s quite hard to sit with and face. But it is true. My eyes tell me that and my aches and pains give me little reminders too. Mostly I’m alright with it—and in any case what can I do about these facts of life anyway?

I suppose it helps that at present for me it’s a gradual decline. That way maybe the mind and body hopefully will slowly adjust to one another. But I don’t know what it would be like if things were a bit more sudden though, as they are for some people. Maybe I’ll find out—maybe not—all in good time. And how long will that be? I don’t know. So I’d better get on with it—including the uncertainty of whenever or whatever it is—and make the most of what I’ve got now. I like the idea of ‘getting on’ with things—it’s what we say when we’re getting busy, and it can also mean ‘getting along’ with, as in having a good relationship with, let’s say ‘others’ or ‘myself’. 

It reminds me..... I do need to be a friend to myself, and there are so many things I can give thanks for.