Becoming Older

I remember when my father was my age, I knew he was old, but I never saw him as really old until a couple of years later when he was diagnosed with a rare type of Leukemia.

While it did not bother him at first, he was eating oysters on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and had an adverse reaction and contracted an infection that caused him to lose his left leg just below the knee.

It was this second issue that caused him to age quicker than he normally would have aged.  He refused to use a wheelchair unless that was the only way to get somewhere like out to a football game.  Instead, he used a can, or a walker while wearing a prosthetic, but it was the prosthetic that forced him to become less and less mobile.

His first prosthetic worked perfectly but because he moved around so much, he wore that one out prematurely.  All future prosthetics never fit his leg as well, for some reason, and he became less and less active.

He died at 89 years of age but not because his Leukemia killed him but because all of his organs simply wore out at the same time.

Did the Leukemia or leg cause the wearing out to happen or was it going to happen that way, regardless?

No one knows for sure.

So, if I follow the pattern of my father, then I have 12 years left.  However, my mother lived to 96 and while I do not think I will live that long, there is a good possibility I will live somewhere in between the two.

Right now, I try not to think about that.  I try and think about what I am going to do today.  I don't really care about tomorrow unless I have to plan for a doctor's visit or a haircut or grocery shopping.  I have vacations already scheduled on my calendar, but I won't start thinking about them until a few days before.

I just see life as special and precious.