Once over the hill

 ...you pick up speed.

Man, there are some days when I feel every one of my 71 years and ask myself, "When did that happen? Where did that ache come from?"

I've found I can't stay on my feet for any real length of time. Oh, I can take walks and I can move around, but ask me to stand in one place and move slightly (think "retail") and my back seizes up just thinking about it. I see people who look at least my age and I wonder how they do -- and I hope that they don't *have* to do it because of financial difficulties. 

I am so thankful that (1) I had a good job all my life and (2) I was able to save enough for a comfortable retirement and (3) I was intelligent enough to realize that I needed to do so. Given the precarious nature of the world today, it's a worry if I'll have enough.

Maybe someone will need to put me on an ice floe and let me drift off to sea (if there are any ice sheets left). Or like my husband said, "strap a keg of beer to my back and parachute me into the depths of Yellowstone. I'll take my chances with the bears."

Not a bad idea ...

We have enough youth.

How about a fountain of Smart?

As we enter an election cycle (and it's WAY too long) this seems particularly appropriate. The older I get, the more I realize how much I miss the Good Old Days. It feels like we've lost all civility, common sense, and old-fashioned goodness.

Take book banning -- common sense tells anyone that if a child wants to find *that* book, he/she will find it. Why ban it? Why not have the child read the book then sit down and discuss the 'disturbing' elements with the child. That helps a kid be better prepared to face the world, because sure as sh*t the kid will meet *those* people in the world.

Book banning strikes close to home for me because one woman's porno is another woman's romance.

Who decides? It shouldn't be those in power. It should be up to the individual.

Pain and suffering are inevitable ...

 ...but misery is optional.

This has always sort of been my motto (that and "Often wrong but never in doubt"). 

Let's face it, at some point we'll hit a bump, we'll be derailed, we'll hit a pothole. Life Will Be Tough. I'm not saying that we need to laugh at our ills, but I try to take it in stride. None of us are getting out of here alive so we should try to enjoy every minute we're here as far as we can.

And yeah, I wake up some days and lay in bed and think "okay, this isn't good, my back hurts so much I don't know if I can move." And then I move, and I moan, and I groan, and I move some more and pretty soon the OTC painkiller kicks in and before I know it I'm at the gym working on that Underarm FlipFlop machine and I guess I'll live another day.

Misery is optional. Unless you're outside in mosquito weather and you forgot your bug spray. 

Then Misery really is Us.

We would worry far less about what people think of us

 ..., if we realized how seldom they really do.

I am reminded of this every swimsuit season. How many people worry about how they look in that swimsuit or those shorts or that top? It took me a long time to say "the hell with it" and to wear what I want to wear.

I try to look good in what I wear, but really, I'm older and it is what it is. There are saggy bits and there are bouncy bits. I try very hard not to over-expose what I have but I'm not going to cover it all up, either, not when it's 80 degrees in the shade and humid.

I mean, really -- nobody cares what I look like, right?