A Small Concession To Age

I have made a small concession to my age.  A couple of months ago I had an episode with my blood pressure.  It spiked with no warning and since it had never occurred before I wasn’t sure what was happening to me.  When I went to the clinic one of the first questions the nurse asked me was “Do you take blood pressure medicine and if so did you take it today”?  I responded that I did take a daily pill but I could not remember if I had taken it that day.  Let me confess now that I do occasionally have some short term memory issues.  They may be related to my age or possibly to things I did in my youth.  Anyway, my small concession to age is that I am now using a pill container that allows me to count out my daily medications for morning and night for a week at a time.  This pill box keeps me on track to remember to take my daily medications.  Now I just have to remember what day of the week it is.  I am not a person who is upset that I am getting older.  Every old person will say the same thing.  Our bodies may be getting older but we are still young on the inside.  Once, when I was a young lad of 58, one of my younger co-workers said to me, “Michael, you are the youngest 58 year old I have ever known”.  Hopefully, I am now one of the youngest 66 year olds she has ever known.  In my own mind I am 25 years old.  No one is more shocked to be old than an old person.  We are all wondering, “How the heck did this happen”?  One of my best friends and concert buddies is my age.  We met in high school at age 15 and took Driver’s Ed together.  We had some wild adventures in our youth and now we are blown away that some of our memories are 50 years old.  Neither one of us can rock and roll all night like we used to do but we are still trying.  OK, I am stretching the truth a bit.  We still go to concerts together but we occasionally nod off during a slow song if we close our eyes.  We also like to be home before 11:00 PM.  I am even more pathetic because I have to take a PTO day the next day.  It’s not because I got too high or I am hung over.  Although I may have had a few beers, it’s mainly because I’m tired from being out on a school night.  On a positive note, aging can be very freeing.  Most of life’s serious labors are behind you.  The future is always unknown but the present is more appreciated because you know the fragility of life.  You may have been running your entire life but now you can slow down and breathe.  Breathing is a lot easier for me now.  So is napping…..