Men of a Certain Age

Aging. I for one tend to celebrate aging. As a powerful force of nature the process cannot be stopped. Mentally we don't have to let that reality leave us dejected. I gave in to the struggle long ago with my receding hair line by shaving my head weekly. Most recently I stopped ignoring difficulty in reading written text and procured reading glasses. Now, like many others my struggle has changed to keeping up with the darn things.


I recently received word that a life long friend needs hip replacement. Immediately that seemed terribly out of place. This guy is my age. We aren't old enough for a hip replacement. Are we? I really felt shock and said those very words out loud. The real humor is that I had the ball joint of my left hip slip out of place when I was twelve (12) years old. In a course of six months I had four steel pins placed in both of my hips.


They remained in place for five years. I rarely think of that, as you can tell from my initial reaction to my friend's impending surgery. Thankfully, my procedure has didn't leave any negative affects as I exercise daily. My hips take on a lot of the work, and don't complain in the least. I guess that is the good news. Orthopedic surgeons did a wonderful job on my hips over thirty years ago. Technological advances since then boggle the mind. I'm sure my pal will come out better than ever.


Strong hips to get us through the other obstacles of aging. Take care of them. Exercise.


Tom