Hmmm, did I latch the garden gate?
I feel the need to clarify a few misconceptions that I may have fallen victim to as I reach my late 60’s. I maintain that I am aging gracefully and defying the passage of the years despite any indications to the contrary.
You may think that my memory is not as sharp as it used to be. I dispute this perception. I do not forget things more often than I did when I was younger. I do sometimes remember things a few hours or a few days after I was supposed to address them. However, this is not being forgetful. It is delayed remembering which is an entirely different thing and not a sign of aging.
It is true that I drop objects more often these days. However, this is not a sign of loss of dexterity. It is entirely the fault of manufacturers who now make objects out of substances that are much more slippery and hard to maintain a grip on. They slip through my fingers because of this inferior manufacturing rather than because my grip is not what it once was.
You may have observed that I do not suffer fools and arrogant people as well as I once did. But this is not my fault nor a sign of less tolerance as I age. It is just that there are so many more fools and arrogant people than there used to be. If I complain more about people who annoy me, it is solely because there are so many more of them I have to suffer.
You may think that my memory is not as sharp as it once was… Wait, did I already mention that? Okay, never mind.
I will concede that I sometimes walk into a room and momentarily draw a blank on my reason for entering that room. But that is not a sign of a mind that slips a gear from time to time. It is just that I allow my mind to go where it wants to when it wants to. More important considerations take precedence. It is all about priorities.
It is true that I drop objects more often these days. This is not… Wait, did I already mention that? Okay, never mind.
There are more points that I wanted to make but they will not come to me at the moment. I have not forgotten then. I definitely have not. They are right there in my memory as clear as day. They are profound thoughts that will make your eyebrows raise when I circle back to them.
Oh, one more thing. I will concede that I sometimes walk into a room and momentarily draw a blank… Wait, did I already mention that? Okay, never mind.
I want it known that I am a garden in late bloom with all the beauty, colour and productivity that comes with the wisdom of the years. Yes, the gate to the garden is sometimes left unlatched. But that is only because some damn fool came by and distracted me causing my fingers to loosen their grip on the slippery surface and delayed remembering taking effect.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings
Tags: aging gracefully · memory · metaphor · Michael Robert DyetNo Comments