Growing old is about as much fun as ... growing old. Turning 70 was a reminder of that
It occurred to me last weekend that it isn’t quite as fun to celebrate the growing older milestones as it used to be.
Once, you wanted to get older quicker, so things like turning 13 were more exciting because you were a teenager. When you hit 16 you had a new freedom behind the steering wheel. At 18 you headed into adulthood and at 21 you could legally drink.
Epic stories have been told about some of those milestones. But earlier this year, when I turned 70, it didn’t seem like that much of a deal. At least I was alive but there is no particular pizzazz in the age. Eighty? Maybe. Definitely 90, and 100 is a huge deal, assuming you even know you are 100 and in good health.
But there are a lot of milestones to aging that carry something of a good news-bad news flavor. You’re 62? Woohoo, Social Security if you want but not much. You’re 65? Medicare and you probably will be needing it frequently. Hip surgery, back surgery, cataract surgery — all familiar landmarks for us older folks but they just don’t have the positive excitement of something like a successful driver’s license test.
Indeed, some old age milestones catch you by surprise, things you don’t even think about happening, like when I found myself using a cane last weekend during a trip to Tennessee. Worse yet, I started with a walking stick but quickly proceeded to one of those canes that folds out into a tripod with a little green seat like you see spectators using at golf tournaments on television. No matter how I tried to casually lean on it, the bright green plastic screamed nerd, and even worse, old nerd.
I wobble a lot when I walk and standing for a long time really can be painful. During a tour of some historic house, I needed to sit down. Boy, do those guides get all excited when you sit on their furniture. So a family decision was made for me to get the little seat which doubles as a cane.
People try not to stare and they do get out of your way. And it really isn’t bad having a portable seat with you sometimes. Of course you have to weigh less than 250 pounds, you need even ground and you will not be sitting on it for long if my experience is an indicator.
I’m not quite ready for a walker or a wheelchair, more aging milestones no one gets happily excited about. But a cane does have advantages. I am much better at pointing things out now with my own portable carry-along pointer and it is good for sympathy. But it also one more thing for a forgetful person to forget.
