Another Birthday

How old am I today? This Beatles' song now applies:



. . . as does much of this passage from page 128 of Nora Ephron's book, I Feel Bad About My Neck:

I have been sixty for four years now. . . . But the honest truth is that it's sad to be over sixty. The long shadows are everywhere—friends dying and battling illnesses. A miasma of melancholy hangs there, forcing you to deal with the fact that your life, however happy and successful, has been full of disappointments and mistakes, little ones and big ones. There are dreams that are never quite going to come true, ambitions that will never quite be realized.

One of my dreams when I was a kid was to have a whole houseful of cats. That one has recently come true (see yesterday's post).

Some—but not too much—of this poem (sorry, I don't know the author, but this poem has been around for decades) also pertains:

On Being a Senior Adult

There's nothing on earth the matter with me.
I'm just as healthy as I can be.
I have arthritis in both my knees,
And when I talk, I talk with a wheeze.
My pulse is weak and my blood is thin,
But I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

My remaining teeth will soon fall out.
And my diet I hate to talk about.
I'm overweight and I can't get thin,
But I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

Arch supports I have for my feet,
Or I wouldn't be able to go on the street.
Sleep is denied me night after night,
And every morning I am a sight!
My memory is failing, my head's in a spin.
I'm practically living on aspirin.
But I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

Old age is golden, I've heart it said,
But sometimes I wonder as I go to bed,
My ears in the drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table til I get up.
As sleep finally comes, I say to myself,
"Is there anything else I should put on the shelf?"
But I'm happy to say as I close the door,
My friends are the same as in days of yore.

I get up each morning, dust off my wits,
Pick up the paper and read the obits.
If my name isn't there, I know I'm not dead.
So, I eat a good breakfast, then go back to bed!

I may have slowed down considerably in the last couple of years, but I'm not dead yet. There's still more to see and do. Later today, I might order myself an iPod as soon as I decide if I want a Nano or a Touch.

Meanwhile, I'll eat a good breakfast, read the paper, feed my numerous critters, play Frisbee with the border collie, and watch kittens discover the world.

And try to decide which iPod I want.

~