Kiwi Kids Books

Perhaps the single most disturbing thing that weighs heavy on my mind is the fact that I am getting older. I would guess that not a day goes by when I dont think, or am reminded of this horrible fact. It wouldn’t be so bad if getting old was a good thing. Sadly, at this stage in life I am only seeing the negative aspects and this is causing my to become a little melancholic. Someone once said that ageing is the race you always seem to be losing and I would have to agree with them.

I dont know about you but my days have evolved into a collection of reminders about my developing age. It begins when I wake up and have to navigate my way around the bedroom. I used to have cat like presence and agility around my bedroom, sadly I move like the Titanic…. as it was sinking. I bump into things, trip over clothing and ultimately stumble my way to the bathroom where I have to put in my contact lens so I can actually see properly. Once I can see I am not really impressed with what is staring back at me in the mirror. Without my contacts I dont look too bad. But once my vision is 20/20 I start to look a little worse for wear. Wrinkles appear around my eyes, hair appears in places that it shouldn’t and frankly I start to look old. As I walk out of the bathroom every morning my only hope is that everyone is as blind as me and has forgotten to put in their contacts.

For me I realise that getting old is part of life and to be honest it is not the big events that cause me problems. As you age those big milestones, marriage, house buying, having kids etc are all signs that you are getting old and for some reasons I am fine with those. They represent maturity. What frustrates me are the gentle reminders that jump on us unaware during the day. Only the other day in church we were shown a video about an upcoming event. The video talked about the ‘next generation, – those aged from 18-30. As I sat there and watched I realised this video was not for me. I am now included in that ‘other’ generation which is seldom needed in this society except for my weekly tax contribution. In fact when you think about it my greatest gift to society at the moment is my weekly tax bill that is sent to the government.

Another example of the reminders I am constantly getting about my age happened when I signed up for something on a webpage. I had to supply a few personal details, one if which was my age. When the pop up box appeared I had to scroll down to reach the year I was born. This was a first for me as my year of birth day usually just been sitting there staring back at me. Not any more.  Sadly, these little reminders hurt a lot.

Another area that frustrates me is music. I am fortunate to work with young people and I have a radio in my classroom. Often if I am away someone will change the station from my favourite. The resulting music that spews forth  is both baffling and ear numbing. My class groans when I move the station back to the station that I enjoy and to be honest I can understand why. My music is boring and old and I am completely out of touch with young people today. Sadly, music is just the tip of the cultral iceberg that I fail to understand. Add to music areas such as clothing, make up , tv shows, magazines, movies and the once hip teacher that I was, is slowly growing into an old old man.

Finally no other area of life says that you are getting old like that of sport. It used to be that every sports star of mine was older than me and I could dream that I would one day be in their shoes. There was then a small stage when all of my sports stars were the same age as me and I could compare myself with their abilities. Nowadays almost ever sports star is younger than me by a considerable number of years and all I can do is now reminisce about the great players I once saw playing that particular sport. Even when I managed to make it onto the sports field things are different. the mind is willing, sharp and agile but body just doesn’t seem to respond the way I want it to. This means my once silky smooth skills on the football field have been lost and replaced by bumbling old man.

Sadly, as I sit here writing I see no end in sight. Another day has passed and that means I am yet another day older. A day here or there isn’t important but once you start to clump them together the sad reality is that I am getting older. In saying that I can still see that there are plenty of older people around who seem to be coping okay with their increasing age. My parents, my wife,  my in-laws and a few work colleagues are all older than me and I have actually started to see them as my heroes which is a nice way to look at them. Because as I look to them for inspiration I know that however hard I try they will always be older than me.