@rsevenic said:
When my wife said I needed hearing aids, I wouldn’t hear of it.
So, it’s not a problem of hearing, rather one of listening?
Getting older beats the alternative. Also, growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional.
@Rex said:
Hey String, I have the honor and privilege of bicycling with some of my sports heroes. I’m the baby at 63. The 66 year old is strong. The 72 year old is stronger. The 81 year old is the alpha male. If there was a nation-wide or world-wide competition for bicycle road racing this guy would have to place way up in the top 5% in his age group. I want to be just like him when I grow up.
Two idols for me.
- I participated in one of Body Boat Blade’s 5-day classes, years ago. One student had recently retired and turned 80. Nobody would guess his age from his fitness level or paddling ability.
Fast toward 4+ years to a different location on the west coast. I had been invited to paddle with another paddler, who invited someone else to come also. When he arrived, huge grins broke out on both our faces—yep, same guy, now 84 years old. The guy who coordinated the outing did not know we had met earlier. But he told me that when the retiree had been invited on a backpacking trip and he had never met him, he was very worried about the age factor…at first. In his words, the retiree “kicked butt!”
- When I was 49, I took my second trip to Grand Canyon and hiked the South Kaibab Trail down and up, what they call “rim to rim” (in one day hike). I was pleased that the time it took matched or slightly bettered what I had taken at age 30. The volunteer working at the gift shop said her husband had just celebrated his 80th birthday by doing the same hike, and he did it every week they were there. Now, there’s a tough goat!
I showed up here about 20 years ago and used to call it Geezer Net because of the age of so many of the regular posters. Most of them have passed on either to facebook or the great beyond. Looks like I’m a Geezer now too. The problem is your genes have sort of shaped your path and you don’t know what that will be and when you least expect it “Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go” … lots of surprises for me healthwise. I had a birth defect and wasn’t supposed to live 18 months so I guess I’ve been living on borrowed time for about 60 years, plan to make the best of it. I was planning a paddling/surfing trip to Norway this summer, but I had some recent health problems and don’t think I would put the others at risk of taking care of me if something bad happens. My uncle who survived being stranded on a Pacific Island with Japanese Navy searching for him for about year gave me one piece of advice" if you are sick or hurt keep standing and they won’t bury you;."
I came close to being mentally and physically ruined when I was 12 by a progressive condition. It was subtle but my Mom recognized the issue.
After surgery, my body had to relearn how to walk .
In my late 50s the genetic issue that crippled my Dad started to manifest in me. Walking isn’t easy but I get around. Paddling is great except for standing up after . I’m working on that with some mechanical help. And help from paddling friends.
You just have to keep keeping on .
You only hate it because you’re so old. 
@Overstreet said:
@canoeswithduckheads said:
Older than dirt!They make dirt every day.
OK. Right you are!
Older than any dust on top the firmament dome.
Older than any blackhole which inside first cell calls home.
Maybe not as old as God which ain’t an aging thing.
But I believe far back as Zijanthropus they was always pull’n Strings.
Travel at the speed of light and you don’t age! You age slower on a mountain top than sea level. Time really is relative!
And thus, as Rickie Lee Jones reminds,
“I’m telling you where it is…GRAVITY.”
@JackL said:
A little too windy and cold (at 60 degrees) to paddle here today, so Grayhawk and I sat around and discussed hearing aids while Nanci laughedoh, at first reading I though you meant 60 degrees latitude. Probably not.