[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 263 – Old Timer’s Disease

Old Timer’s Disease (06-29-09)

My grandmother, Josephine, died years ago at the age of ninety-four. I can remember some funny stories about her. My mother spent most of her time caring for her and told me once that grandma, on one particular morning, kept complaining about some minor pain she had. It got to the point where my mom just turned to her and said, “Jebus Cripes mom. You’re ninety years old. SOMETHING’S going to hurt.” Grandma stopped complaining. I now use that line on my own eighty-six year old mother and remind her that she said it first.

Grandma always had to be helped into and out of bed, but on one particular occasion, in the middle of the night, my mom got up to check on her and in the darkness walked right into her. She had gotten up on her own to navigate the pitch black room, to munch on some goodies that were always on her bedroom dresser. Somehow she needed no help to make her way out of bed and do a stealth raid on the snacks.

With these two little vignettes in mind, it often amuses me, when eavesdropping on a conversation, how some people thrive on complaining about their aches and pains, comparing their operations and reciting the list of their prescriptions for this malady or that. And just try to beat one of these supposedly feeble folk to the buffet at a wedding or other family event. You would have better luck outrunning a freight train at full throttle.

Now, these are just a few examples that grandma helped to provide for what I like to call “old timer’s disease.” But, make no mistake, it is a disease that is not limited to the elderly. I am sure we all have a few people in our lives that are much younger than grandma and still manage to bend our ear about their problems. And, I don’t know about you, but I have a few friends that, in normal mode, would move at a snail’s pace were they on fire, but pop it into high gear when anything consumable is at stake.

Old timer’s disease is insidious. It can, like age itself, creep up on us unawares. How about that little groan we give when getting up out of a chair, sometimes? Maybe we find it too easy to pop a pill than to work through a minor ache or pain. Do we find ourselves depending on too many conveniences, when we have the ability to do the work or complete a job with our own two hands? I’ve often joked with my wife, that if I start complaining about aches and pains, or I begin wearing black knee socks with my athletic shoes, or if I start obsessing about my latest bowel movement, that she is to wait until I am asleep and quietly put a pillow over my face and put me out of my misery.

I will never get younger, but all of you reading this will get older. While we often associate age with forgetfulness, the only thing I want to forget, as the years roll by, is my age, at least as far as my abilities are concerned. And, I hope that you will do the same. Don’t let age determine what you think you are capable of doing. It is a poor way to gauge how you will live the rest of your life. And, if you find that you already have some of the signs of “old timer’s disease” then I urge you to make some changes or, at least, to find some kind soul with a nice fluffy pillow at the ready.
___________________
Copyright 2004-2009 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Have a Great Week!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *