A Slight Diversion-08/30/2010

Two things happened last week which caused me to pause and consider where I am in my life. First, one of the other coaches "tagged" a picture of me on Facebook, that was nice. But then in less than an hour I get a message that I should "like" Copeland Cosmetic Surgery Center. A few days later on Saturday at about mile 12 one of the runners that I am coaching exclaimed: "You're old enough to be my father!"

I know these two innocuous events were not meant to be ill spirited by any stretch of the imagination. They did however; cause a degree of consternation on my part. Consternation that in just a few hours turned into reflection which brings us to my post for today.

"To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am"- Bernard Baruch

That sums up the way I have felt for a long time now. So why the consternation, well, I always like to begin with what I know or at least what I THINK that I know.

• I know that I have lived for 62 years.
• I know that those lovely young ladies are in their early thirties, they are in fact actually a bit young to be my children.
• I know that my skin is not as supple or smooth as it was three decades ago.
• I know that parts of me will sag and droop, that hair will grow in places unwanted, yet not grow on my head.
• I know that I will never have a hard, chiseled body and that having one would actually be a bit freaky. (TME)
  
• I know that certain sound pitches will no longer be heard.
• I know that I will never run 400 yards in 61 seconds like that damn 18 year old at the track.
• I know that I will never be able to turn back the hands of time but I also know that aging is better than the alternative.
  

But I also know and believe:

• I know that I have survived two fights with cancer, multiple surgeries and a detached retina which by all odds should have left me blind in one eye. "Old age ain't no place for sissies."- Henry Louis Menchen
• I believe that older men can be better lovers, just not as often.
• I believe that older men can be better husbands and friends.
• I know that "The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left." - Jerry Wright.
• I have learned to appreciate silence and that every moment does not have to be filled with talking or music or just noise. That those hours spent driving in silence doesn't diminish the love I Susan and I have for one another.
• I know that I am coaching a wonderful group of young runners. Coaching, not from the sidelines, but by leading them over those long miles knowing that every step it is my responsibility to be the strongest runner.
• I believe that age is no barrier. It's a limitation you put on your mind.
• I know that I have a goal to run a marathon with my grandchildren when I will be 77 years old.
• I believe that with the Grace of God I will attain that goal.
• I believe that Douglass MacArthur was correct when he said: "Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."

For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars invisible by day.

---Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Morituri Salutamus" 1875

"Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etching of experience and the firm line of character." - Anonymous

I know that I am not fighting aging, I embrace its inevitability, I just want to do it well.

Damn I feel better, I'm going for a run!!
RunGrampyRun