Aging Firsts

I was so light headed and unstable on my feet, I had to use one of those electric carts at the supermarket. A first! Geesh. I felt like an old man. Oh, I am an old man! Shoppers scrambled to get out of my way.

At 77, I still have my fingers in Medicare insurance. I carry a bag with my insurance material in it. When I get up to leave, people have started offering to carry my bag. And I let them! But worse than that, the other day, when I rang a doorbell, a lady came to the door, eyed me up and down, and offered to carry my bag in. And I let her. For heaven's sake!

If you wanna know what you look like to other people, don't look in the mirror. A mirror reflection is a false image. I don't know why, but it is. Photographs of yourself are an accurate portrayal. How people react to you is the surest way of gauging how you appear to other people. “This guy looks too old, weak and sickly to be carrying that bag.”

All right already! I've recently recovered from cancer, but am suffering from the side effects of treatment, like shortness of breath. Carrying that bag up a few steps, especially if it's icy, leaves me winded to the point where I have to sit and catch my breath before I can speak. I explain, and people are nice and understand, and offer to carry my bag.

One of the best things for me is doing exactly what I'm doing — getting out and seeing people. They have such a healing effect on me. If I sat home in my recliner, day in and day out, I would go down hill fast. Getting up every day, showering, and getting dressed to go out and about, is the best medicine for me. Besides, I see a lot of people in far worse shape than me. I pray with them.

Another first is having a Handicapped sticker for my car. I have no guilt feelings about that, and gleefully head for the premier parking spots at convenience stores, movie theaters and downtown Main Streets.

However, I did experience a first the other day that bothered me. I was at a client's house, and they asked if I remembered being there before. I could not. I usually remember being at a place where I've been before, and people I meet. Is my cognitive ability slipping? I hope not. I recently took my annual Medicare Physical, and passed all the memory questions except for reciting the months backwards, starting with December. I always blow that one. Ginnie can recite the months backwards like she's a bird chirping the National Anthem!

I'm walking with a cane now, and should use a walker. I always have the cane in the car, but am reluctant to take it in a customer's house. Why? Pride. Using a cane is much preferable to falling and breaking a hip, especially with the icy conditions we've been having lately. Hmm, I wonder if they make nonslip cane tips?

I look at President Trump and don't know how he does it. He's 79, I'm 77. He flies all over the world, plays golf and is up half the night on Truth Social. I hardly get out of the county, read, write and watch television from my recliner, and am sawing logs by 8 p.m. I do get up early, if that's a consolation. (Old people get up early. Except for Ginnie.)

For the first time this year I had to hire our lawn mowed. With much chagrin, I noted that these hotshots mowed our two-and-a-half acres in half the time it takes me. Ginnie was incredulous, “Look'it'm go! (Of course I do a better job of mowing, I told her.}

I had to have these same hotshots do odd jobs around the house that I couldn't do, like, change light bulbs in our cathedral ceiling because I don't trust myself on a ladder anymore, and chop the weeds down in the garden. Our garden went to weeds because I couldn't get out there and do garden work. Ginnie feeds these hotshots like they're family!

However, no matter how incapacitated I am, I still pray and meditate. PTL!

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt is available for public speaking.