HALLELUJAH!
HEALTH, WELLNESS & FRIENDSHIP REIGN
Fearlessly, the retirees around me stepped into old age after passing GO—the After-70-Year-Old Stage. In exploring a tiny aspect of this splendid and phenomenal lastingness, our brave stick-to-itiveness batch has encountered some roadblocks??? But, no worries, we’re all in this together!
My first glimpse of the mystery of old age came from beloved grandmothers, Martha and Lydia. With even closer observation, the life journey of my parents, Emily and Martin. Now, front and center—the unknowable is here. It’s knowable! Because I am now that vintage fossil.
That doesn’t mean my sedentary body is sitting next to Whistler’s
Mother, never moving, as she stares into space looking for—? Actually, I think her thought-provoking appearance shows that she has something important to say.*
History shows us that one important aspect of people living longer even when they encounter tough health and well-being issues is bonding with friends and acquaintances. I am surrounded by the togetherness of friends
who educate themselves in numerous subjects including health and wellness. We benefit from each other’s resilience. The three above are certainly benefitting from togetherness.
Obviously, still being here, I decided not to skip old age because the dispatches sent were not offering alternatives. Therefore, with eyes wide open, I now work hard to be comfortable with body parts that go on strike, fall apart or refuse to work.
The reality is that a significant number of us living in this Retirement Realm carry around a replaced body part or two, maybe three. Sometimes human chassis’s line up and morph into one another. One friend has had two hip replacements on the same hip. A hip replacement on her other hip, a pacemaker and yesterday she had a full knee replacement. When asked how she feels about another surgery, she said, “Pretty Bionic”.
Sounds like my bionic friend.
A quirky question occurred when I was standing in an airport line from a TSA clerk “Any body replacements?” After my reply the next thing I heard blasting loud and clear across the terminal expanse was “METAL ELBOW & KNEE COMING THRU!” Disappointment showed on my fellow traveler’s faces as this ordinary person tottered off to a new shorter line.
Being only bionic on one side, my metal parts allow me to travel, have flowers in my apartment,
dine with good friends, revisit good books and laugh at our bloopers as we forge ahead. (About the above flowers on my coffee table—my Dream Team Neighbors surprised me this morning with my own interior flower garden. I’ve been smiling ever since at their flamboyant—”look-at-me” acclamation. I’ve invited the ranunculus and sunflowers to stay and be my roommates. I’ll keep you posted if they accept.)
A favorite author, Dame Penelope Lively said this as an octogenarian, “I have had surgery and treatment for breast cancer….my sight is dodgy….a cracked vertebra, requiring surgery left me in unrelenting and apparently inexplicable pain …and yet, Dame Penelope also says, “I revel in this spring sunshine, and purple hellebore and the sound of a beloved voice on the phone brings a surge of pleasure.”
. Friendly Voices Make A Difference!
A recent late afternoon visit to the ER for my creaky leg wound lasted until the late night. The transport service that took me to the ER was not part of my insurance plan. No problem, a knight in kindness armor drove a gauntlet mileage, waited in a crowded room, schlepped my wheelchair to pharmacy and in the dark of night drove me home sharing good conversation and laughter.
Friendship Reigns!
Regardless of good intentions and the spin of the old age roulette wheel, brainpower strategizes and redesigns aging body parts. Equally so, the humaneness of human beings puts forward warmhearted messages, saying,— No Matter What Age! Hallelujah To Health, Wellness & Friendship or perhaps, Maya Angelou said this best about aging:
“Despite the creakiness of one’s bones and the cragginess of one’s -silken skin, is this: Do it by all means do it.”
That’s exactly what we’re doing at my Retirement Realm—we’re excelling at creaky bones and craggy skin.
Sy’s Salient Points:
My senior crowd is never going to be left behind in the subject of Health and Wellness or for that matter—Friendships. They are bound and determined to make their lives work. No Matter What Age— Do it by all means do it. Maya Angelou did!
*the conversation.com: 7-3-2015 Anna Whistler raised a renowned artist, acclaimed physician, a prosperous businessman and a daughter who married into the English upper class. She was a shrewd observer of the world, lived in Russia with family, her husband had been hired by Czar Nicholas I…. As her biographer noted, “she was a mighty force in the lives of those around her”.
Happy Easter Blaire