THOUGHTS ON AGE

MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS DATED MAY 9, 1937

I sometimes question, could that date be accurate? My memory quickly reassures me it is. But, 84 years is so damned old — isn’t it? I certainly don’t feel that old, and nice people trying to make me feel good say I don’t look 84 years old. I must agree — I don’t. (No, smart ass, I don’t look 100.)

I’ve known for some time that there is a difference between chronological age and biological age. I feel it. I live it. Now, I’m discovering it to be OK to hav.e that opinion. The Great Wizard of Truth, science, is increasingly approving that concept. Once more, science is slowly catching up with life.

Having gained the permission of the Wizard to believe what I have lived, I can speak a little more freely about it without sounding too foolish.

You guessed it. I consistently feel younger than 84. How much younger? It varies. “Some days are diamond, some days are stone”, sang John Denver. True. Occasionally for unknown reasons, I wake up down. Feel like shit.

Fortunately, this is increasingly rare more than common. And, I can usually find a cause — not enough sleep, what I ate or have been eating — these are the most common causes. When your stomach, for whatever reason, goes into one of it’s poor-me moods, everything goes down hill.

With a sinking body, mood follows. Darkness creeps up like a creep. I get depressed, and you know what that feels like. Nothing is right.