Old Age

Old Age

No sex

No alcohol

No smoking

No drugs

No greasy food

No walking

No standing

No breathing

No living

Cycle of Life

At 9 I longed to be 16

At 16 I screamed to be 18

At 18 I begged to be 21

At 21 I thought surely life will be great at 30

At 30 I wished again to be 21

At 40 I begged for 18

At 50, I acted like 16

At 60 I dream of being 9

When I am 70,

Will I wish I had never been born?

Hey Dumb Ass

Damn…

All of a sudden I’m old. I swear that when I went to bed last night I was young. I could run and jump, play ball with the kids, eat ice cream, drink beer, stay out all night and still make it to work the next morning with a smile on my face. But when I woke up this morning, it was a struggle to find my glasses before I could see good enough to even find my way to the bathroom to retrieve my teeth from the glass on the sink.

My mind tells me that I can still do all those things that I always just took for granted. But, I guess all my sweet moves on the field of play might have soured a bit. I probably should have known something was going on when they started asking me be the scorekeeper instead of a player. But, in my stubborn refusal to age, I did not pay attention ‘to everyone who ever knew me’ and attempted to join in on their reindeer games anyway. It only took a few minutes before my body parts looked at me in shame and decided to rebel.

Hey stupid ass…you want to quit that now. Cease and desist immediately or we’ll make you pay. And no amount of ibuprofen is going to fix it either.

But I did learn a valuable lesson. Whoever it was that said ‘No pain, no gain’ was younger than 30.

The Before and After

When I was a much younger version of myself, there was an order to my existence. Life and death made sense to me because science told me the truth about the universe. The one thing I thought I knew was that energy could not be created or destroyed. So the concept of Heaven and Hell were just mythical constructs created by man to rationalize death.

We simply choose to place our loved ones in the Here-After to create the illusion that we might one day see them again. It eased the sorrow we felt at their passing. I understood that and I accepted death as a simple transference of energy from one thing to another.

Death made sense to me because ‘age’ dictated that people had outlived their life span. After all, our bodies are frail things and can only sustain life for a finite amount of time.

Besides, I was young and healthy. Any thoughts of the end were far from my mind. Maybe I would live forever or at least technology would develop to a point where our lifespans would make it seem like forever.

Oh yes, I was happy with my beliefs.

But that was when I was young.

The voices of destiny have started to whisper their harsh words of mortality into my ears. It’s no secret that I am the next to youngest of fifteen children. Now whatever your thoughts on that might be; we can discuss on some future blog. The reason I mention it here is because, much too quickly, my huge family has dwindled from fifteen children to seven.

And now, my body is moving further down that corridor of existence, and I can feel it beginning to break apart. Age is forcing my beliefs to crumble and I find myself spending more and more time (probably too much time) thinking about what the future holds for me.

So, I need to believe that I’ve been wrong all these years. I’m hoping that there’s something more than just the now and that there is some place set aside for me in the after.

Old Grey Men

In uniforms that long ago fit

The grey bearded men watch longingly

As marching ranks with emotions lit

Take the call to arms so anxiously

What is in their minds this solemn day

As their grandchildren march off to war

Do they fear for them or do they pray

That they would be called upon once more

To take up arms and defend their home

Upon some distant and lonely shore

To embrace old friends and sign the tome

To stand proud in battle like before

If cannon’s roar deals a final blow

Pushing eternal rest their way

Would be an end they’d like to know

To be buried where fallen comrades lay

With misty eyes and canes held high

A final salute from old grey men

Who know their fate is to wait to die

And not know the taste of war again