THE INEVITABLE DISCUSSION ABOUT GETTING OLDER…ON MY BIRTHDAY

For the past several years, I have posted a blog article on Wednesdays. It’s a good day for me and a nice thing to have a regular writing exercise. This day just so happens to be my birthday. (For anyone even remotely interested, I’m 63!) So, as you can imagine, it is inevitable that I discuss something related to birthdays, getting older, and the like. Sure, there is some aspect of my writing and my baking and my sausage-making. But for the most part, this is an Old Dude talking about getting older.

I seem to have a recurring usage of expressions that start with: “I really can’t do THAT anymore”; “I don’t find THAT to be as fun anymore”; “I’m not all that eager to do THAT anymore.” Now, there are various versions of ‘that’, and I could certainly make a list. But making lists, except for artistic ones, is one of the thats that I don’t need to or want to do anymore. Notice as well the time constraint of ‘anymore’ is in repeated use. It is as though the thought is “Been There, Done That, Don’t Need To Go Back.” I’m sure there are a lot of people who think, or may even verbalize the notion, “MAYBE I could try that again.” For me, making an old recipe from fifteen years ago is a lot different than being daring enough to want to try, let’s say, sky-diving now, especially considering I never wanted to do that in the first place.

Did I purposely buy a stainless-steel cookware set because it was better quality or because such quality forces you to take your time cooking and washing it? After all, what’s the point in cooking something so fast that it’s, well, cooked, but doesn’t have the same flavor as something cooked to allow simmering and braising and blending of flavors? Granted, my back and knees don’t enjoy endless standing but that’s what the anti-fatigue mat is for. I can be patient if it is the things important to me: cooking or writing. I’m even patient with people. Waiting for technology gives me heartburn.

There are concerns about things like seeing and hearing. I’ve been in a headset-type customer service position for over twenty-five years. I’m not deaf, per se, but I do assume a degree of hearing loss. As long as I can listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Charlie Parker and Frank Sinatra, et al, without cranking up the volume so the neighbors hear it, I’ll be fine. Let’s not forget the eyes. That customer service position requires being in front of a computer. So does the writing. I’ve gone from glasses every other year to every year.

I tell a story about being a manager at a full-service restaurant in a mall in my mid-twenties. I was out, shall we say, enjoying myself until 4 in the morning, BARELY caught two hours sleep before getting to work and unlocking the place to allow the head chef and morning waiter to do their work while I passed out in the office. Ah, the good old days!

I haven’t watched the ball drop in Times Square for several years and typically don’t see 930pm on my watch. Then again, I AM up every workday morning at 430am. It’s a trade-off. Early or Late seems largely dependent upon age.

I certainly pay more attention to my diet and exercise and overall quality of life. Three cocktails at most, maybe two or three glasses of wine, but never ALL of that of an evening. I never expected to be able to do things in my sixties that I did 30 or 40 years ago. I don’t want to be a bald man with a white beard and washboard abs like all those ads show. Those images seem to look like a hybrid beast from a 50’s sci-fi movie. I know who I am now more than ever before. I have certain skills that I did not have when I was younger. Everything about life is a balance; the nature of the scales simply changes over time.

I’m counting down to 65 when I can completely retire. I honestly imagine I will continue to eat well and exercise and be even more productive as a writer. Oh, and continue to bake as long as I have my KitchenAid stand mixer to avoid using arthritic hands for kneading. I’d like to volunteer my time judiciously, perhaps at a library where I can impart my passion for writing and reading.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s getting precipitously close to 9pm!