Anyway, I’m now officially closer to 50 than 40, which sucks big time. I know, I know, 50 is the new 30, blah blah blah. And most folks of our generation look a lot younger than I remember our grandparents looking when they were in their 50s. But, man, the body just keeps rebelling. It feels like I’ve aged more in the past five years than I did from 30 to 35, or 35 to 40. I think it’s because aging in your 30s is more subtle, where the changes are more dramatic in your 40s.
There are all the lingering aches and pains. The back that is always one wrong movement from seizing up. My right hip has gone a little wacky over the past couple years. Knees that creak. You know, all the typical joint and muscle stuff.
But then there’s my hearing, which was always kind of shitty in crowded, loud environments and seems to have gotten a lot worse. On my last visit to my eye doctor, he said I was a year away from bifocals. I swear as soon as I got home that day my close vision went to shit. When we first moved here, I laughed at how my father-in-law got pissed when they dimmed the lights at a restaurant and he couldn’t read his menu. He was in his early 60s at the time. Now I’m doing the back-and-forth, try to get the menu under the right light and at the right distance, dance at restaurants. And I’m only 46!
Good grief.
And then there’s the medical stuff. As I shared, I got my first colonoscopy a month ago. That was the result of about a year of varying stomach issues. Fortunately, the scope was clean aside from one small polyp that they took out. But I’ve had to make a dramatic change in diet – completely cutting out caffeine – to try to get my stomach to work right again. My symptoms have finally slackened off a bit. But I know if they bubble up again, I may have to adjust my diet in more ways.
When you’re 25 and your stomach hurts, or you have a bad knee, or your muscles are just a little sore for a couple days, you don’t really sweat it. When you reach this stage in life, you start getting a little more worried when your body tells you something isn’t right.
I don’t mean this to be a bummer of a post. I have a couple close friends who are going through much more difficult medical issues than anything I’ve ever experienced. I really shouldn’t complain, and I’m not. But I do admit I’m starting to understand the wave of movies and TV shows in the 80s and 90s by Baby Boomers who were lamenting the carefree days of their early adulthood.
Anyway, thanks to all who checked in yesterday. I appreciate the words. And I’ll try to keep the complaining about my age off these pages until my next birthday!