People are not like cheese: We don't necessarily get better with age.

           After yesterday's rant, I feel the need to slow it down a bit.  I believe that the only thing that comes to mind to do today is to insert another of my answers for my sons.  Today, I think I will include the answer to the following question:

What is the worst part about getting older?

Simply put, the way the body starts to betray you.  First there is the pain.  It I’m not talking about pain from more frequent injuries.  No, I am talking about pain from the stuff you do every day.  You find that your body has decided that you no longer need full use of various parts and thus it should remind you of that by making them hurt at random.  It is true that as you age you tend to be able to do less and less.  Things that you could do easily yesterday (standing up quickly for instance) are harder to do today.  Your knees start to ache just from walking to the bathroom in the morning.  Your back hurts as you sit up to turn off that alarm.  Sometimes, just stretching can make you hurt.  And that’s not including hurting yourself by trying to do something you were able to do just a few years ago.  Take playing football for example.  I used to be able to throw the ball without pain (not very well, but at least it didn’t hurt), now, after two tosses, my shoulder hurts and I think hand offs are a better option.  Add to that that running for any distance is out of the question.  Knees, ankles, hips, and back all get in on that action.  Exercise for any extended period of time and your entire body reminds you that it is an unusual practice for days afterward.  I suppose if you exercise regularly and eat right the pain is less, but where is the fun in that. 

The secondly the body gives up on staying trim.  When I was younger I could eat anything I wanted all day and not gain a pound.  Then I hit 24 and my body decided I needed to start storing food for the winter.  Now I have to watch what I eat if I don’t want a waist size equivalent to my age.  Now I have a gut, a requirement to be under a certain weight, and a hankering for chocolate and fried foods (yes, a deep fried chocolate bar sounds great right about now).  The weirdest part of all this is that, when I was younger, I used to eat fairly healthy and moderately.  Now that I am older and have to watch what I eat, I mainly want to eat junk food and candy, and I want to do it all the time.  In other words, the body says, “if you eat this I’ll make you fat,” and then turns around and yells, “EAT IT, EAT IT ALL!!!” 

The final thing the body does to you is mess with your sleeping habits.  By this I mean it refuses to allow you to sleep properly.  You may be able to get up regularly at the same time every morning before your alarm clock goes off.  Then, the night the power goes out and your alarm clock fail to go off, your body decides you need to sleep for an extra four hours.  Never mind that on the weekend when you can sleep in your body wakes you up 5 minutes before your alarm normally goes off.  Then when you go to bed, you start reading and can’t seem to finish a sentence.  You turn of the light and stare at the ceiling for an hour until your body finally decides that you’re serious.  The body lies about how tired you are all the time too.  You could be falling asleep on the couch and unable to keep your eyes open, but the moment you lay down in bed, you are wide awake.  Then when you finally do fall asleep, you wake up 3 hours later for no reason, and then every hour on the hour you wake up again.  The next night, as soon as your head hits the pillow, you pass out and are barely able to wake up for your alarm clock. 

                Yup, the worst part about growing older is how your body begins to betray you.

                Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.