I Used to be Younger

Shutterfly sent me a collage of photos of our dear daughter over the years.  I saved it in a screen shot and sent it to her.  Her reaction was "I used to be younger."

Ah, so did we all.  My husband has a birthday coming up soon and he will be very close to another decade birthday.  It sounds old to me.  My close to decade birthday is just a few months later.  Jim has had his share of serious health issues over the years but I feel as if I am aging faster than he is.  He walks several times daily and I make myself go out for one short walk and even that is not easy for me.  I have made my peace with using a cane and look for it even when walking in the house.  

But...it's just a cane and not a walker or a wheel chair.  So I can be grateful to be mobile with that aid.  And I can still (there's that word "still") go up and down the steps to our second floor apartment. Once the use of that word was pointed out to me, I have been aware of its importance in the aging process.  Are you "still" driving?  Are you "still" living on your own?  

One place where we are not the oldest is our aptly named "Grace Notes Choir."  Looking around yesterday, I thought my husband looked like one of the youngest and handsomest men there.  The lady  next to me sits in a wheel chair and was quite distressed and confused asking her daughter who had brought her to choir where she  was going afterwards and where she would be sleeping that night.  She was reassured that she would be going "home" which meant her room in the senior living place where we meet. She sings along just fine but has a hard time finding her music in her file and then finding her place in the music.  Her daughter thanked me afterwards for pointing out my place in my music as a hint to her--and she was looking for that.  I was glad I could help her in an unobtrusive way.  

As we age, I just hope and pray we can keep from confusion and dementia.  And that we can continue to be self sufficient, taking care of our own daily needs and finances and medical appointments of which there are quite a few.  I am pleased that we were able to make a major move across the country as well as we did.  We have even made new friends here which I consider a real bonus at our age.  And we keep up with "old friends" with email and Facebook.  So mostly, life is good and I need to remember that when I get discouraged with feeling like  "I used to be younger."