Aging Gracefully
“ True peace comes with the discovery that we can respect the seasons of life with a spacious and undefended heart. In it we learn to trust, to rest in the truth of the way things are, to willingly accept the measure of joy and sorrow we are given.”
What a lovely thought. What a lovely sentiment. The above had to be written by a very old saint or a twenty year old with big muscles.
Because --- getting old just
sucks.
For example, when I was a young college student, during the winter, calisthenics were something Jack La Lane was doing on TV and the closest I came to weights was rolling a keg into the correct location. Yet at the end of school, I would arrive home, drop my luggage off and head over to the Grand Union where a large freight truck was waiting for me to unload. I was a little tired the first day, but by the end of the week I was in peak condition.
Now, I spend the winter stretching my rigid extremities into places they were never intended to go and lifting really stupid things just to prove I can overcome gravity. By April, I am doing 30 pushups every morning, bounding up from that to do 10 chin ups, racing upstairs to bench press 130 pounds 45 times, then lacing up my walking shoes for a brisk 5 mile walk. God do I feel good!
Spring arrives and I abandon the calisthenics and weights for garden tools. I am in the garden all day almost every day. Clearly, I am maintaining my great conditioning. Then by July 4th the outside work is done, it is time to tighten up the little bit of conditioning I might have lost.
On the third push up, my arms give out and I hit my nose so hard the cats panic and run into the wall. Somehow, getting up from the floor strained my back, so I am now limping badly. I jump up to grab the chinning bar and miss it completely. On the second attempt I grab it with both hands, but can only hang there like a fresh caught tuna strung up for sale. OK, now limping, gasping for breath and using the “ Wall bars we will need when we get old” I drag myself up to the weight machine.
Clearly, I may have lost a little conditioning, so I’ll start at 100 pounds and move up quickly. As it turns out, it is very difficult to breath with a hundred pound bar pressed directly across your neck because when you pushed it up, it went straight down. Dumping the weights to one side, I rebuild my oxygen levels above black out and crawl down to the recliner in the living room. I reach over and pick up the book on Spiritual Peace I am reading and it falls open to the previous quote.
Now I like the concept, I want to be able to accept my limitations, to gracefully yield to the ravages of age, the natural decline that slows us down and weakens our bodies.
NO I DON’T!!!!
If the slide is greased, I am going to kick and crawl and claw every step of the way. Nothing will be graceful.

I’ll be in playing shape by September’s kickoff.