Menu

Birthdays

I arrived at 54 years of age yesterday. I waited until today to write about it, to see if I woke up alive on the first day of my 55th year. You know, just to see if it took. Well, it did and here I am sharing my experience of 54 years on the earth.

The first thing I can say about the mid-fifties is some of my body parts don’t want to do what I would like them to do. For example, yesterday I played in a soccer game with my team in the over thirty league in which I play (some of the guys on my team could be my sons chronologically). I did alright, but everything related to my carcass was in slow motion. “Move legs,” I would shout and the things attached to my hips would respond with a resounding, “Woe baby, one step at a time, dude!” This was very frustrating and is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, in regard to my body’s rejecting me.

The other thing I don’t get is how things on my body just hurt without any reason. Sans provocation, my knees say, “Hi, we are here today, just thought you would like to know.” My back is in harmony with the little miscreants called my knees. I have come to realize that I have body parts. Really, when I was younger I would just run, jump, and play; and all of that without knowing I had any specific parts attached to the me that I was. Now I know I have a back, since it greets me every morning. The same goes with my neck, shoulders, hips, and, so I won’t forget, my muscles (all of them and some I know I never had).

Then my mind reminds me it isn’t there. I often talk like this. “Hey, do you remember uh, what was that guys name? Uh, you know, the guys with the hair, what color was it? And the funny walk, how was it? You know, the guy who lived at that place, where was that? What? He was a girl?” It is very depressing to see the mind that could remember so much not remember anything (at least I think so).

Anyway, happy birthday to me! Another year older and another pain closer to what I can’t remember.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *