URBANNA — Well, I did it and it was easy. I turned 82 last week. Nothing to it. It was as easy as the blink of an eye!
I had a lot of greetings from friends and family on my big day. Even my church, cruise line, CPA and doctor sent greetings. The doctor’s birthday wishes made me a little uneasy. I wonder if he knew something about my health that I didn’t know.
Just grateful my funeral director didn’t wish me happy birthday. That would have really scared me.
I guess when you are in your 80s, it gets people’s attention. Still, I appreciated all the good wishes. People are kind to seniors. That helps get us through the day.
It’s still hard to believe a young chick like me could possibly be 82 years old! Maybe there was a mistake made on my birth certificate and I should report it?
I really felt old on my recent trip to England. Men called me “ma’am” and offered me their arm to help me get off a bus or take off my coat and when I entered the underground and there were no seats, the men stood up to give me their seats. I was very impressed.
Maybe I looked like I was going to drop dead from exhaustion, which I was. I never felt so close to the end as I did on the “trip of a lifetime.” One doesn’t ask for a lot in life but one certainly might wish the last breath could be taken from one’s own bed and not in some hotel halfway around the world.
The odd part about growing old, and I can no longer argue that age 82 isn’t “old” is one doesn’t feel old, just tired. My brain is the same as ever, full of fun and passionate about life.
But my body drags along as if it really would prefer to just sit in a chair and read a book. But my brain says get up and get going and when I do my body chimes in and usually gets the last word.
Bodies are a drag! If only my brain could live on without my body I would be just fine. Bodies are a lot of trouble when you think about it. There’s always something wrong, a hangnail, a sprained ankle, a bruise here or there, a scratch from a playful cat…What a nuisance a body is!
Think of all the trouble it is to take care of a body. It has to be fed, cleaned and clothed and what a waste of time! If only my brain could be set free!
My brain is my body’s slave! My brain craves freedom! Brains of the world, unite! Down with bodies! End servitude now!
Oh well, I guess that’s a pipe dream. One knows a body needs a brain to tell it what to do and a brain needs a body to do the manual work. It’s easy when one thinks of it to think. What’s hard is to take action. I could think all day and be perfectly happy if I didn’t have to take any action my thinking requires.
82! Think of it! Turning 80 and 81 weren’t so shocking because sister Alice assured me one wasn’t old until one hit 82! She knows because she hit 82 two years ago. So now I guess I just have to accept it.
I don’t think I look old! Do you think I look 82? Hardly any wrinkles! Of course, my eyesight isn’t quite what it used to be.
Except for the gray hair. Sometimes I see this lady as I walk by the mirror and wonder who she is and how she got into my house? There’s nothing wrong with the white top, mind you, it’s just that you don’t want people to think you just walked through a blizzard or that you are really Mrs. Santa Claus walking through Urbanna incognito.
I tried being a blonde once just to find out if blondes had more fun than brunettes and I discovered they certainly did have more fun. I was a blonde for 20 years and loved every minute of it!
But then my doctor suggested that I let my hair “go natural” as I aged. I imagined using all that dye every two months or so would hardly be good for me. It sounded OK at the time and as the gray came very slowly into my dark brown hair Jan Dunlevy from Shear Delight raved about how pretty my “frosted hair” was and assured me it was “most attractive.” And, best of all, the price was right.
Frosted look yes, but one day I peered into the mirror and it suddenly looked like the cook had dumped the entire pan of frosting on my head!
So far my brain is holding out for the “natural look.” But we shall see, won’t we, just how long Mrs. Santa Claus walks the streets of Urbanna!
© 2023
