I shouldn’t complain, but it’s the nature of people, and I’m a people. At the age of 70 I try to live like I’m still young, but it’s no use. When you’re young, and it comes to working out in order to stay in shape, or get into shape everyone knows the motto, “No pain no gain”, but that changes when you get old. When you’re old working out is painful. The pain never goes away as you get into shape, because you don’t get into shape anymore. No matter how much you work out it’s always painful and you just continue to steadily lose ground. You don’t get faster or stronger, just older and sorer.
When your young and dumb, and you are hard on your body, older people will tell you that, “You will pay for that someday”. You’re told that your body will suffer for the abuse you subject it to, you blow off those warnings. It’s easy to do because your body recovers quickly, and you’re strong, and very dumb. Let’s face it, experience counts for a lot in life, but experience only comes from time, and time is aging, and then it’s too late.
Hell, what are you going to do, live forever? Some things in life just can’t be avoided. I’ve lived through at least six car accidents, some very serious. I used to break horses for a living and had several horses buck me off, rare over backwards, landing on top of me, kick me, and stomp on me, breaking several bones over the years. What are you gonna do? There are countless fights where I was hit with boards, branches, ropes, cables, feet, and fists. More broken bones. I’ve tangled with a bear, badger and a bull… still here. I’ve worked in mining in central Alaska, the Barring Sea on boats, and logging in Washington State. More broken bones. When I was a child I played football as a running back, wrestled at the varsity level, and participated in field and track. Again, as a child a raced horseback in the Inchelium suicide race. As an adult I ran in Five K races and marathons. I was married five times and helped raise six children. This and I’ve only scratched the surface of what I’ve put my body through. I should not complain, but I’m a people, and people do what people do, we complain.
I take high blood pressure medication. Good Lord, how could that be?
Today I had to see a doctor about nerve damage in one of my legs, more pain. Yet, on a bright side he marveled at how in shape I am. Particularly my lower legs, due to going to the gym and walking more than two miles almost daily. He said to keep it up. More pain.
I guess the pain when you get older just tells you that you’re alive, and in some ways maybe that’s a good thing; the pain that is.
Sky Valley Messenger 