It seems at times that all we know about old age is a lie. The ads show happy and fit looking seniors romping through the surf, hand in hand, on some tropical isle or enjoying a day of golf, or tennis, or just hiking through the forest to a stream where they spend the day catching beautiful trout. Those ads are a lie. But you already know that.
I was fooled by those happy daydreams. I had wasted time and money when I should have been preparing for this stage, this final stage of life. Financially we are doing better than a lot of other American people. But as it is said, money can't buy you happiness.
I retired early at the age of sixty-four and I thought I had it made! I seemed fit and when I wasn't competing in 5K, 10K, half marathons or marathons, I was training for the next one. The house was paid for. I was getting money from the Carpenters Union retirement plan plus money from the PCG retirement plan plus money from the PCG 401K. Oh, I was getting my Social Security benefits as well. Why should I worry?
It seems that the things I could not see, my spine for instance, was fragile and flawed by years of abuse while installing drywall. My lungs were in sad shape, but I hadn't known it because I was so involved with the training and the races. I was training over 30 miles a week normally and 60+ miles when I was getting ready for a marathon. Plus, I had lived and worked at an elevation of 4,500+ for some eleven years and I had stopped smoking many years ago.
Then one fateful morning I felt a sharp pain in my lower back as I was finishing an eight-mile walk around the park. It would not go away and so I went to see my PA and he referred me to a neurosurgeon. That was it...it was all over. Surgery followed surgery and as I recovered my health declined and declined some more until this present day.
I could give you a sad litany of all my physical problems. But I won't because it only makes me sad as well. I think I will look at those ads again, that should cheer me up.
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