First Posting...Toe in the Water

My oldest grandson has encouraged me to write about some of my life experiences and I have done so off and on for a number of years.  Writing has also been an emotional outlet for me as I've been polished by family, career, workplace and travel experiences.

Starting to blog is a pretty big "toe in the water" experience for me since I've shared little of my writing in any public format.  Although I've shared some of it with family and a few friends, jumping into the cyber world is a bit different and much more risky.

I'm not really sure what direction this blog will take, but I've found that most writers "write" for themselves and not others, thus that will probably hold true for this blogging effort as well.  For me this blog is a chance to share personal thoughts that may ramble or reflect or even cause others to contemplate their own personal journey.  I will also be sharing from  past experiences that have helped shape my life, personhood, and belief system.  Hopefully it will serve my personal needs and also be something worth reading by others.

Hopefull I can enter something in each posting that will be worth reading.

So for my first few entries I want to share some thoughts on life and aging since that is much on my mind lately. 

Life Happens at Three Score and Ten

 I sometimes think about the Biblical reference to a life span of seventy years found in Psalm 90:10   “Seventy years are given to us!  Some even live to eighty.  But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.” (New Living Translation) 

 Based on actuarial information, people seem to be living longer today given better nutrition and health care.  Have you seen the TV commercial where people are given big blue dots to stick on an age timeline indicating the oldest person they know?  Most of the dots are way past age 65.  At the same time, I find it interesting that the “world average life expectancy” for someone born in 2010 was just over 67 years.  So maybe the Biblical “three score & ten” years is not too far off and if you live to be 70, each additional day, month, or year of life beyond 70 is sort of a “gift” or “bonus time” before you “fly away.”

Needless to say, as of this writing I’m still around, but I’ve been thinking about my body and how it is working as I reached this chronological milestone.  The past year or so has caused some focused contemplation on the part of Psalm 90:10 that talks about “pain and trouble.”  If you’ve already reached the three score and ten benchmark, you can probably identify with the “pain and suffering” part as well.  If you are younger, you most likely enjoy what the reality TV shows call “immunity.” Youth has a way of delivering you from much of what I am writing about.

 For me, that old Greek sounding nemesis, Arthritis, has been attacking my many articulated joints, those that glide and those that are hinged are the most troublesome.  Neck, fingers, back, knees and toes seem the get most of Arthur’s attention. I don’t take any medications for this yet, but most days begin with stiffness.  I no longer “jump out of bed” and hit the floor ready to get on with the day.  Before I retired, a friend who had retired several years earlier saw me at the dentist’s office one day.  He said, “Now after you retire, if you’re smart, you won’t set any appointments before 9:00 AM.”  Today, eight years into retirement, there is no doubt that my friend’s advice is some of the best advice I’ve ever had.

The knee joint is an intricately crafted and amazing part of our anatomy giving us great mobility, climbing and jumping abilities, but oh what a pain when it is damaged.  A torn meniscus from some misadventure many years past is somewhat troublesome at times to my left knee, the pain waxing and waning as with the moon.  At the moment it is waxing with intensity, but hopefully it will soon wane as it has over the past twenty years of so.  Several years ago when it was waxing almost to the point of unbearable pain, the orthopedic surgeon I consulted suggested that I just “live with it.”  It could be “fixed” with arthroscopic surgery, but sometimes the arthroscopic surgery aggravates the joint.  The tear may get fixed, but the joint gets worse.  So, as for now, I’m living with it.

 

More thoughts on Life Happens at Three Score and Ten in the next post.