Signs of gettin' old

Aging is hard on the body but easy to do. It takes no effort at all. I can attest to that. I am lazy. Always have been. Used to feel guilty about that but no longer, I now revel in it... sedately, of course. And, being lazy, I have pretty much ambled my way into old age.

Being a procrastinator, I put it off as long as I could but eventually I had to admit it... I am old now. Not as old as some in my circle of friends/enemies/acquaintances but still old. When I was young, I considered my age now (65) to be really old. But I am almost the youngest now of my golf partners. There are a few that are younger; from a few months to a few years. But so many more are 5, 10, even 20 years older than myself.

Old age creeps up on you while you are in denial. It's gradual and the mind plays tricks with you to maintain that denial. You look in the mirror in the morning and you don't really see that grizzled visage, you see the younger person you once were. Everyone else, however, knows the truth.

For most of my life I looked younger than my age. In my 30's, I was taken for a 25 year old. But then the gray started creeping in. First (and, for many years, only) in my beard and then in the hair on top of my head. I was crushed when a 30-something said I looked "maybe 55" when I was 50. The wrinkles are there but not bad, just around the eyes, and I don't have much of a wattle yet... it's coming though and sooner than I wish.

I see it mostly in the skin on the back of my hands. It's splotchy with faint liver spots. And it seems more transparent somehow. Thinner. Wrinklier. Old man's hands. In recent years, that has crept up my arms... mostly my forearms but it has lately moved onto my upper arms.

Creeping age, I guess. Intent on making me an aging creep.