I suppose the obvious answer for me is simply take better care of myself over the years. But with an early 50s family record I simply ignored good sense. There's an old saying - "If I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself".
I joke about the multiple Xs in front of the L on my "buffalo petite" frame. Clearly I have food issues. It's my addiction. I love to cook and I love to eat. Until just recently there were no other issues but the stress of the last 5-6 years has taken it's toll. That nasty "D" word for older fatties like me has raised its ugly head as has the high blood pressure bugaboo. Not off the charts crazy BP - but still enough to have to watch it. My Docs over the years marveled at how healthy I have stayed. One - good old Dr Tilkin - sat in the examining room with an angry look on her face. She reminds me a bit of the bride of Frankenstein with her hairdo -the Doc's is all silvery gray but the do - well it's close enough.
At any rate, she had a serious glare on her face. The comment was "I hate to tell a ### pound man he is healthy but dammit it's true. But I guarantee it won't last forever (she was right).
There's a direct correlation between something I would NOT change - I have smoked but one cigarette my entire life. That was under a bridge with a few buddies. Luckily we were busted by one of their dads - so technically I never even finished it but I realized then and there I would never be a smoker. During my college days I became very adept at making special brownies and spaghetti sauce so I rarely even smoked the evil weed although I did get plenty of second-hand smoke at concerts and the like. But I digress.
Until my mid forties I played a very aggressive brand of softball and racquetball. My knees survived 6 years of football but the softball and racquetball did them in and now I gimp around a lot and working at home the last few years has made me entirely too sedentary.
So there ya have it. I should have managed my weight and health better so that's my do-over. But like most of us, I figured I was invincible back in those old days.
Thank you for this post, Chuck. It more than made my day.
ReplyDeleteYou and my late husband sound like brothers. David loved to cook and loved to eat.
Aaand the word bugaboo … David used it all the time. He also tended to be sedentary and didn't take proper care of his health.
Take care and try to be well.
blessings ~ maxi
Good for you on the cigarette challenge! I personally failed miserably having started at sixteen and finally ceasing my long-time relationship at age fifty-seven. Quitting as it turns out was for show only since very early signs of COPD were already nipping at my heels.
ReplyDeletePhilosophically speaking however, the premise for choosing not to do something when you’re much, much younger to avoid possible consequences that play out when your older I don’t think will ever be the order of the day for a young person. The only way any of us would have made different choices would have been to know the consequences… but that will never happen of course. So goes life, for better or worse.
Whilst I agree with Alan G's second paragraph in principle, not so in detail. The Angel at 22 (and well before then) has a grasp on life and its consequences I can only but dream of. It's quite extraordinary. No blinkers on his vision.
ReplyDeleteYou mention health. My mother had such a wonderful expression when in my teens. How to translate it into English? Something along "You rob your body". Yes, I know, doesn't come simpler than that. Still, like Einstein, it's all relative. And, as you say, genes definitely play a part. By "rights" so many should be dead given their lifestyle yet go merrily into their late dotage. And before you say anything: Lucky me comes from strong stock.
I think there are two times in life we need to be vigilant as to what we put into our bodies and what better to avoid: When going to have a baby and breast feed it. The next - consequence of the former - that as long as someone is "dependent" on you, whether emotionally or financially, you bloody well try and avoid to become roadkill. But not to the exclusion of all. And maybe many a Malt has kept you (and others) from losing the plot.
U