Things I just can't do (well) anymore (o;

[Capt Steve]

As I creep up on 60 or it creeps up on me, it's coming next year, I find the list of things I can no longer do or do well is getting longer. Case in point: On vacation here in San Diego, brought along my old wetsuit, boogeyboard and a pair of fins to do a little surfing while we are here. Now the water is a tad chilly this time of year but the springsuit, short sleeves and legs should be enough for the 66 degree water. I watched the surfers at Ocean Beach and told my bride that I think I'll skip the boogeyboard and just man up and rent a long board. I surfed for 30 years but hadn't been on a long board in 15 years and at least that many pounds.

The first indication of a problem came while trying to squeeze into the wetsuit, the damned thing had shrunk considerably(???). Once I managed, with help, to get the zipper up the back, problem two quickly became apparent. I was so stuffed into it I could hardly move. Paddling was a nightmare but at least I was reasonably warm. I spent about an hour splashing around and managed a couple of pathetic rides but still had a lot of fun. The memories came flooding back if not my prior expertise and after an hour I had had enough. I thought about going back this morning but happily the water temperature had dropped to 64 overnight and getting into that water with an ill fitting wetsuit just wasn't going to happen.

I'm sore all over but it hurts so good and am glad I went but I think I'll stick to golf. (o;

 

[Jst1mr]

I find my tree stands getting sturdier and lower as the years go by...and closer to home, come to think of it!

 

[KyWstJoe]

I'll be 63 Monday and it don't get any better than yesterday. It's tough to say "I just can't do that anymore" but, it's the damn truth.

 

[gbrady]

Drug out the dress blues the other day to show my youngest grandson, too big for him (12 years old) too small for me. Time not only adds years but inches also, hands doesn't work well with buttons or small zippers. Parts of the body are plastic and steel. Once up on a time I climbed telephone poles and microwave towers, now I try to find another way around stairs.

 

[rburg]

I'm thinking we're lucky that our mind goes first..... We don't know that which we can't remember.

My favorite story is at the expense of one of my best friends. Each winter, around the end of January when its the coldest, we have a campout. Appropriately named the Blue Ball. Traditional garb includes favorite clothes, often field jackets.

A few years back it was really cold and snowy. Our official fire tender, with the title "Fire F'er" was plying his trade. He had his old Marine Corps field jacket on, and it was open down the front. Another very good friend of his and mine was sitting next to me in a camp chair. Maybe we were consuming adult beverages. Because we were seated, with an old army blanket under us and tossed over our legs, we were comfortable (and we had near lethal doses of pain killer brew.)

But we were watching our buddy at the fire. He was cold. And he kept trying to button the field jacket. Every time he'd try we'd start to laugh. It was a good show. There was just no way it was ever going to button. He got out 40+ years ago. But he had pride, and kept trying. A few times I entertained the idea that maybe this time. But he sucked his stomach in as far as he could and still no joy. So he began to blame his wife for shrinking the thing. We almost died laughing every time he did that. Whenever we go out with them as couples, we always berate her for poor laundry skills and how she should be more careful with his precious field jacket. Even our wives are amused, and she doesn't take it personally at all. I guess she understands that maybe the problem is more internal than external.....

 

[OFT II]

I'm just a month shy of my 66th. I find that I can still do every thing that I could do forty years ago. I just can't do them as fast, as high or as long as I could then.

 

[m657]

....an old boy years ago told me he had come to the place in life where "Everything that doesn't hurt doesn't work".

I'm beginning to appreciate the clarity of his observation.

 

[ingmansinc]

Ah yes the golden years, a very big lie if I ever heard one.

The tour bus pulls into the state park and all the folks get off and read the plaque about the water fall and then get back on the bus and leave.

I can still do most of the things I used to do except it takes longer, looks less graceful, and I can't last as long.

 

[Gutpile Charlie]

I'm six months shy of 70. A number of things don't work like they use to!

Getting down on my knees is impossible. Doing routine maitainance things around the house like painting, plumbing and electrical work are really a pain now.

I used to shoot Service Rifle and High Power at Camp Perry.

Back then, just toting your stuff from the range road down to the 200 yard line was a royal pain, let alone getting into prone, sitting, sitting, etc. Those things are just impossible now. I really miss it....but just can't do it.

When I drop something on the floor, just the idea of bending over and picking it up makes me break out in pain!

Nope, things are not the same.

 

[straightshooter1]

I'll hit 63 in December (I hope) and I have all the same problems of the posters above (except the wetsuit-surfing-haven't done that since I was a teen).

The thing I notice most is the arthritis in the hands. I can't shoot a single action revolver anymore. Hurts too much to cock it at least most of the time it does.

Fortunately, the trigger on my shotgun is a release , so, as long as I have the strength to hold it in till I am ready to shoot, I guess I can shoot trap.

I find I gimp a lot when I get out of the Pathfinder if I've been driving an hour or more. Takes from exit till I am in the store or house to straighten up and walk right.

But, I can still reach or bend down to get the object I've clumsily dropped on the floor. It's getting back up that's the problem.

Bob

 

[truckemup97]

Like Toby Keith said, "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

 

[beach elvis]

Here's some encouragement for ya:

Used to be an old (and I mean OLD) jazz pianist named Eubie Blake.
Up to the end of his life, along with being married for however long, he had numerous girlfriends simultaneously.

A reporter asked him how old you gotta be before your sex life slows down.

His answer was: "You'll hafta ask somebody older than me."

 

[Bassamatic]

What a bunch of weenie butts!

I'm 63 and there is not a thing I can't do just as good if not better than when I was 30.

I gotta go lie down now after typing all that.

 

[deanodog]

At 72 I don't do anything good anymore.

 

[redlevel]

Y'all are dis-encouraging me. Stop it with these negative vibes!

 

[feralmerril]

I am 69, just behind gp charlie. I am almost in the same shape I was 40 years ago! However I wasnt in too good of shape then either.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

My eyes don't see as well... but I see some things a bit more clearly than I used to.

 

[bricker]

My Pop passed away last year at 74, and due to rapidly failing health we had to put him in a nursing home. A couple months before he passed he said "You gotta get me out of here, this place is full of old people." So I guess "old" is a relative term.

 

[perrazi]

will be 60 in october. now, if i drop any money, it has to at least a quarter or it isn't worth the pain.

 

[Grayfox]

I'm only in my mid-50s, but I'm right there with the rest of you. 38 years of turning wrenches, mostly on heavy trucks and equiptment, has taken its toll. Not to mention that life in general ain't been no bed of roses. My body thinks I'm about 80.
It ain't the years, its the mileage.