Because I was born before The Beatles\ncame to America on the Mayflower, I’m becoming painfully aware of\nsomething: I’m getting OLD!! Well, my body is anyway. My mind\nstill thinks I’m young. In fact, I’ve been told by people much\nyounger than me that I \u201cdon’t act like an old person.\u201d I tell my\nfriends that I’m a child in old man’s clothing. Then I pass a\nmirror; and if I dare to look, the truth slaps me in the head. I\nthink to myself (sometimes out loud), \u201chey Mister!! What the HECK\ndid you do with the young guy that used to live in there??\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh what the heck. This is me,\nwrinkles, receding hairline, and all. I don’t much care about how\nyouthful I look anymore. Why should I? Not like I’m on the prowl\nfor a mate or anything. I’ve been blessed: my soulmate is a\nBeautiful Young Woman (she’s a whole 3 months younger than me). We\nmet when we were 17 year old kids and are still best friends. \nNope… what you see is what you get with the likes of me. And as my\nBeautiful Girlfriend has been fond of saying lately, \u201cbetter to be\nseen than to be viewed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve also been told that this getting\nold crap is not for sissies. Ain’t that the truth!! This stuff can\nbe painful!!<\/strong><\/em>\n Remember that statement about my brain thinking I’m a youngster?? \nWell that can cause problems when I try to do anything that involves\nphysical effort. Sure, I can do pretty much everything I’ve always\ndone over the years; but sometimes it takes longer, and other times\nit hurts. Even getting out of bed can produce very annoying SNAP!! \nCRACKLE!! POP!! noises those Kellogg’s Rice Crispies commercials\ntouted back in the day. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully,\nmy eyes seem to be \u201changin’ in,\u201d as Aunt Joyce used to say. Just\nbefore retirement I went to the eye doctor for a checkup, and I was\ntold I passed the driver’s test without glasses. He also mentioned\nan onset of cataracts, \u201cbut no need to do anything about it.\u201d \nSame diagnosis as my last exam which I think was about 4 years ago. \nI use readers to compensate for aging lenses inside my 66 year old\neyeballs; but otherwise I see pretty well. Or at least I thought\n<\/strong><\/em>I\ndid, until two days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwoke up the other day and put my glasses on to read while in the…\num… library (bathroom). Weird… my right eye was seeing strangely\nfuzzy text. I took off my wire frame glasses, rubbed my eyes a bit,\nput them back on and resumed reading. Still a little fuzzy. After\nbreakfast I opened my laptop and started reading some e-mails. \n\u201cWhat’s up with this right eye??\u201d I wondered to myself. Went in\nthe bathroom and doused both eyes with eye drops. Put the glasses\nback on. Seemed a little better… oh wait… nope!! Still fuzzy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now\nI’m getting a bit frightened. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Took\nthe glasses off again, this time soaked a washcloth in very hot water\nand applied the hot compress to my eye; hoping this method could\ndissolve whatever this film might be. Put the glasses back on… \nNope!! Now I’m getting scared. I sought out my Honey Pie (glasses\nstill on). \u201cShe’s a nurse,\u201d I told myself, \u201cshe’ll notice if\nsomething is wrong.\u201d \u201cHoney!!\u201d I pleaded. \u201cCan you look at\nmy right eye and tell me if it looks OK?\u201d She gazed carefully…\n\u201cNo, I don’t see any film or anything.\u201d She did mention maybe I\nhad an indentation on one side of my eyeball, but seems like I\nclunked myself there many moons ago. But I was primarily getting\nupset about my vision. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n My\nmagnifying mind started wondering if I had some sort of obscure\nstroke; or how I should type out a search string on the interwebs to\nfigure out what the heck the deal was. Off I went to the bedroom for\nsomething (who knows why). There on my nightstand was a lens from a\npair of glasses. MY<\/strong><\/em>\npair of glasses. The ones I was wearing!! The instant I saw this\nlens, all I could do was laughed very hard. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nmy friends, as you can see, this getting old stuff ain’t for sissies.\n And it seems that no matter how old I get, some of the terrible\nthings that plague my existence are completely imagined by my\nmagnifying mind. The miracle for today is: I CAN SEE!! It’s\nAMAZING!! And I can laugh about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I grow up, I wanna be like Grampy….<\/p>\n\n\n\n