Pages

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Fifty-five Is The New Five

This morning before I got out of bed I spent a few moments stretching my legs. It was like listening to someone cracking their knuckles. First my knee popped. Then I could hear popping sounds from my hip joints. But unlike my knuckles,these pops just kept on coming.

I remember my hubby telling me about the first time he noticed how stiff he was getting out of bed. He was worried. So much so that on his next trip to the doctor he brought it up. I can imagine the silent chuckle before he said, "that's just what happens when you get old."

As I walk across the desert paths in Joshua Tree National Park, I listen to my body. "Watch that step" says my right knee. "Oh, do we have to go downhill again?" says my left shin. "Yowser, you need wider shoes!" say my cramping toes. The lower back is not silent either.

But I keep going because my mind, unlike my body,hasn't figured out it is fifty-five. Retirement hasn't made me feel old. It makes me feel young. When was the last time you could do pretty much what you wanted? I was five. Granted the body does not always cooperate but I'm not letting a few noisy joints boss me around.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nothing Important to Say

When I started this blog I figured I would have no problem coming up with things to write about.  But I found as time went on that selecting subject matter became more difficult.  I think that I believed it needed to have some meaning or interest to people.

I heard a recent Public Radio show that made me rethink that.  It was an interview with a woman who has been blogging about a plastic bag stuck in a tree.  She even gave the bag a name, Windy, and has held birthday parties for the bag.   You see the bag has been caught in the tree for over two years.

I'm figuring surely anything I blog about can't be any more mundane than a plastic bag stuck in a tree.  So here's my topic.  Pens with no ink.  Pencils with no lead.   I've got a pen/pencil holder sitting on my desk with at least 20 writing instruments in it.  And every time I pick out one to write with it doesn't work.  It must be like that unmatched socks in the dryer thing.  Or the keys that are never where you left them thing.

If you want to read more about the plastic bag, here's a link to the blog.   www.junkdrawerblog.com/2010/06/windy-interview-on-npr-all-things-considered.html

Next post:  what to do with 30 empty kitty litter buckets