Retirement is making "Beginners" out of us. Work, - it has always been ahead of us. Now, by choice, it is behind us, at least the kind of work that is required to make a living. If and when we work again, it will be as an avocation, letting us do something that is within us to give. Maybe for money, maybe not.
Right now though, we want to be traveling beginners, seeing some of the world that we have only seen in movies, TV, and books. It's more than sights and sounds that draws us to traveling. It is the idea of speaking another language, of watching the world as presented by non-Americans, to see family customs that mean just as much to others as our customs mean to us, and to talk with people about how they see us, which pulls us beyond the borders of our very circumscribed lives.
I wanted to write more about our proposed travels, but life and age just got in the way, hopefully, temporarily. Before I could finish this post, we had news that my husband is going to need surgery for Spinal Stenosis. The cervical bones in his neck have significant degeneration, resulting from nothing but ageing. I could go into a lot of detail about the condition, because heaven knows, we have been bombarded with a ton of information in the last two days. But right now, that is not the point I want to make.
Here's the point. Honestly, can you think of any more inane reason for surgery than the mere passage of time. Yes, we all get older and medical science says that once you stop growing, around 18 years of age, you are actually beginning the dying process. But, I am asking, why? Why should the ticking of a clock, the rotating of the earth, and the orbiting around the sun be the sole reason your bones wear out? Who came up with that design trait, anyway?
Neither my husband, nor I want to be young again. Been there, done that, and have several ridiculous T-shirts to prove it. But, we do want to live as we are, having only trauma or disease as factors for enduring surgery and the requisite recovery process. Alas, it is not to be. We have no control over the passage of time. We have no power over the clock in our DNA. And, we certainly have no revolutionary, recently revised, completely affordable wonder pills that will stop the forward motion of time, mass media advertising, not withstanding.
So, at this moment, we are beginners for a very different reason. We are beginners at having to face the reality of how aging not only changes you physically, but interrupts your plans. Nonetheless, we will for sure, get back to being traveling beginners, as soon as possible. Because, what we are not beginners at, is being able to get back on track when faced with a temporary detour. Ironically, this is trait that was mostly developed over time as we aged.
Right now though, we want to be traveling beginners, seeing some of the world that we have only seen in movies, TV, and books. It's more than sights and sounds that draws us to traveling. It is the idea of speaking another language, of watching the world as presented by non-Americans, to see family customs that mean just as much to others as our customs mean to us, and to talk with people about how they see us, which pulls us beyond the borders of our very circumscribed lives.
I wanted to write more about our proposed travels, but life and age just got in the way, hopefully, temporarily. Before I could finish this post, we had news that my husband is going to need surgery for Spinal Stenosis. The cervical bones in his neck have significant degeneration, resulting from nothing but ageing. I could go into a lot of detail about the condition, because heaven knows, we have been bombarded with a ton of information in the last two days. But right now, that is not the point I want to make.
Here's the point. Honestly, can you think of any more inane reason for surgery than the mere passage of time. Yes, we all get older and medical science says that once you stop growing, around 18 years of age, you are actually beginning the dying process. But, I am asking, why? Why should the ticking of a clock, the rotating of the earth, and the orbiting around the sun be the sole reason your bones wear out? Who came up with that design trait, anyway?
Neither my husband, nor I want to be young again. Been there, done that, and have several ridiculous T-shirts to prove it. But, we do want to live as we are, having only trauma or disease as factors for enduring surgery and the requisite recovery process. Alas, it is not to be. We have no control over the passage of time. We have no power over the clock in our DNA. And, we certainly have no revolutionary, recently revised, completely affordable wonder pills that will stop the forward motion of time, mass media advertising, not withstanding.
So, at this moment, we are beginners for a very different reason. We are beginners at having to face the reality of how aging not only changes you physically, but interrupts your plans. Nonetheless, we will for sure, get back to being traveling beginners, as soon as possible. Because, what we are not beginners at, is being able to get back on track when faced with a temporary detour. Ironically, this is trait that was mostly developed over time as we aged.
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