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

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Capt Steve

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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;
 
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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.
 
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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.....
 
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.;)
 
....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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 :D, 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.:o

Bob
 
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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."
 
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.
 
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.
 
I will be 60 on my next birthday in March 2011. I was chewing the fat with a couple of young guy and girl fellow Wildland Firefighters on a fire still burning 2 miles from home. They asked about my Red Card status and were surprised at my arduous level. I replied once up and moving with a load on me I am like a mule. Its the getting going which is tough.
 
All of you youngsters in your sixties can expect things to get much worse as the years go by. Hope this makes you feel better. The good thing is it usually gets worse gradually.
 
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Just turned 48 a week ago.

I'm thankful -

-that my wife is only 35 (my second, better wife) and she and our boys (8 & 10) are keeping me young

-that my son, 21, is following his path, fighting in Afghanistan and making me proud. And that my daughter, 18, is starting college in the fall and making me proud, too

-that my Mom and Dad are 70 and 72 and still going strong

-and that I'm still rolling out of bed in the morning, strapping on the iron and getting the job done. I'm not as fast or tough as I used to be (don't tell anybody!). I keep trying to lose a little weight, get in better shape, and remember to take my blood pressure medicine. I go to work without a vest because it doesn't fit and hope I don't get shot (guess I need to work harder on the "in shape/weight loss" thing). But I'm smarter than I ever was, a little faster than a lot of the younger guys, and settled in my life. Every day is better than the last and I'm only half way through, the future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

Of course any money I drop that rolls..... I leave it for the kids, I don't bend down for anything less than a buck these days. Change just ain't worth the effort!
 
I think it was Mickey Mantle that said: "If I'd known that I was going to live as long as I have, I'd taken better care of myself."

With any luck at all, I'll be 63 next month. Nothing particular is wrong but it simply takes a lot longer to get moving and it hurts a lot to get moving. Getting old is not for sissies!

I never rode the brake, however....................
 
WC145 said:
Just turned 48 a week ago.
I don't bend down for anything less than a buck these days. Change just ain't worth the effort!
Click to expand...

62.5 here - still can't pass up a coin on the sidewalk - unless my back is out - then I bend at the knees :D
 
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