It's all in the past, I suspect

One of my golf group, "Captain Billy"*, showed up with a knee brace. Billy's a biker (two Harleys),  a fairly hardy guy and only a couple of years older than I but he's had his aches and pains. Had to have shoulder surgery last year, for instance.  I hadn't noticed him favoring a knee before, though. When I asked him about it, he said his knees been giving him trouble and he thought best to have some support. As we talked, others commented on it... and on their own aches and pains. Billy's remark was "It's like I hit 67 and it all started crumbling."

And from there the conversation was one of this ache and that operation and the other chronic problem.

That's what happens in a group of oldies. Conversations turn to the problems of aging. We wear out after awhile, don't we? And it all seems to come at once. My father was pretty healthy all his life, up until a few short years before his death. Even when he was sick, he bounced back quickly and often worked through an flu or cold. I can't recall him ever breaking a bone or being laid up for more than a day. His worst "injury" was when he sunburned the tops of his feet and couldn't put on a pair of shoes the next day. That was when he was in his thirties. The second day he was fine, as far as I knew, he had shoes on and went to work.

But when Dad hit 78, it all came at once it seemed. His heart was dying and would eventually take him a few years later. When he had the Pacemaker put in, the doctor told him he could have a guy do a knee replacement at the same time but Dad declined. I never found out why exactly but I suspect he didn't want to be laid up at all, didn't want to deal with the recovery. The Pacemaker insertion required only a day off his feet.

To understand about that knee, you'd have to picture and guy whose height was 60% legs. And he was tall (6'4"). And spindly legged. Like a short guy on stilts. Apparently, that knee had been shaky for some time.

Me? I'm falling apart. I've got COPD (mild) as a leftover from a poorly diagnosed lung infection that dogged me for two years starting back in `97. I broke my kneecap a couple of years ago. And now my left shoulder is giving me trouble. And my right ankle (which I sprained a couple of times in my 20's).

When I am feeling sorry for myself, though, I think of Pete (another golf buddy). Pete's 84 and has been battling a form of leukemia for 30 years, had both knees replaced, and is still playing a couple of days a week.

Wish I could have gotten an extended warranty on this body, though.

*He's called that because he is one. He sailed the Caribbean for a few decades after giving up the corporate accounting life back in the 70's.