Old Man Time

What can I say... A bit sexist but I have to tell you last night I felt old. Had a row in the club four yesterday and caught up with some friends at the clubs bar and I joke about how it looks when I have to pick up cloths off the floor at home. The joke was I am having more difficulty putting the boat on the water than rowing. Go figure, age is a curious thing. Seems I am making a whole load of noise out in the boat. Squeaking like a rusty old car door. The hinge that is my hip can be heard from miles away. Pass some lube please is what I say. So there I was hanging at the bar, hanging on to old times. Hang literally off the side of the bar as I enjoyed a refreshing ale. A beer which took that squeak away. Maybe I need one before I venture out on the water. That might do it. Easy the noise from the crunching of joints and limbs, to the creaking of worn ligaments. Boy I don't know but I get the sense that this is going to be a long road. A rough ride. A testing time. Once in the seat I can doing most of what I intend. The odd tweak and twinge ain't so bad. The odd lump or bump is nothing to worry about. It's the bending over that gets me most. The degrees between 5 & 15 from vertical. Once down into the curled up bowed position I am ok. Not perfect but able to swing along like I remember. It's the damn picking up or putting down of a shell which once set on it's path feels a joy to row. That's about the worst thing you know. Time is not what it used to be. My body has changed some things better and obviously some worse. The mind is more ready than ever before or is that just a contrasting experience that comes when I gap has formed between what the mind see and what the body feels. For now I row, I test and train. All for what? For satisfaction. For meaning. For delayed gratification. For connecting. For my family. For the stubbornness in me. That will to over come any challenge. It is all these things and more. Old man time is ticking along and last night reminded me of how real it is.