Since I’ve had two knees replacements this year, I seem to be dwelling on parts of me I never noticed before. Dang, they ache. Who would’ve thought that one nickel-sized spot on the backside of your knee could feel just like a donkey sounds when it brays?
I stumbled across an excerpt from my book Fear, Faith, and a Fistful of Chocolate that sums up my current misgivings well. It’s from the chapter called, “Do They Make Prune Smoothies?” The focus verse is Psalm 71:18 NIV: “Even when I’m old and gray do not forsake me, my God.”
The aging process causes thinning of some body parts (like eyelashes) and thickening of others (everything else). We don’t know whether to pad them or pound them. According to my survey of 500 women between the ages of 18 and 80, fear of aging rated a whopping #2 across the board. (Who can guess what #1 is?)
Aging is a peculiar thing … just when you begin to grow into you skin, it outgrows you. And the extra has nowhere to go except to hang there all crinkled up like a discarded M&M bag.
As the evacuation of estrogen makes our upper faces respond with receding hair on our scalps and eyes, our lower faces get even by sprouting dapper little Clark Gable mustaches and random six-inch chin hairs. Hormones also cause (hey, I blame everything on hormones) our derriere rumpage to quadruple, making many of us suddenly feel we are defined by our behind. This additional gel-u-lite forces us to develop drastic new methods of controlling our weight.
Like the ingenious technique author Janette Barber shares in Heavenly Humor for the Dieter’s Soul: “When I buy cookies I eat just four and throw the rest away. But first, I spray them with Raid so I won’t dig them out of the garbage later. Be careful, though, because Raid really doesn’t taste that bad.”
Anything from this ode to aging resonate with you, dear BFF (Blessed Friend Forever)?
Debbie,
I never thought “getting old” would actually happen to me. I remember hearing the older people say that they still ‘thought of themselves as being younger in their minds’, but the body sure reminds you when you go to move! I think PaPa God allows the body to age so that we have Heaven to look forward to, where there is no more pain and sorrow!
Blessings as you continue to recover!
Sandi, I remember always being the youngest one at special events and now I’m usually the oldest! You’re right – we do feel the same as when we were 20 on the inside. It’s the outside that can’t keep up! Hugs to you, my friend.