Middle age has hit me between the eyes. Actually, more below and beside them. As I look at what resembles the dry river beds we use to explore, I think of the other facets of this phenomena called middle age. At what point did jumping rope become thud, waddle, ouch!? Thud is my thigh slamming in the socket of what remains of my knee. Waddle is the Jell-O consistence part of my anatomy most utilized for sitting. Ouch, well that’s just the two working in unison.
At what point did I decide that all my summer shirts should have sleeves so I could wave good-bye to my children on the bus without my upper arm creating a wind draft as it flops in the air?
As children we use to love bumping down my grandmother’s stairs while sitting. At what point did it become a single “thud” and a quick glance around to see if indeed my teeth had jostled out of my head?
As the physical attributes of middle age become more apparent, I have also become more conscious of my changing role in society. At one point this somewhat liberal minded gal would not have blinked at the commercials and television shows. Now with children in my home, I will write and make phone calls when “male enhancement” commercials run during Saturday morning cartoons on a channel with “Kid” in the title. I am now that “someone will do it” who does their part with school functions, church socials, and campaigning for community improvement.
I am at the point in my life where I am no longer having children, but instead focusing on bringing them up. I am the “middle” age who not only tends to the younger ones, but also worries and “mother hens” my own Mama as middle age flees from her side. Even events with our friends have taken on a different role. Where once we gathered in celebration of holidays, marriage, and birth of children, we’ve now added standing by each others side as we bury our own parents and become the remaining generation.
What a curious adventure is life… from the self-absorption of childhood to the caretaking of middle age. I’m hanging on for the ride of my life… with my gravity bound body parts flapping in the wind.
"I don't mind so much being thought an idiot, it's when I do something to warrant it that bothers me" - Jamie