My mother always said ‘Old age never comes alone’. She lamented that after the age of 60 and a life of hard work she was not as ‘swack’* as she used to be. She continued to work hard in her garden and helping others until the end of her days at 88 years old but she found the aches, pains and other age-related limitations a challenge to her patience.
As a young thing I was proud that I could sleep till the last minute and still be on time after washing, dressing, breakfasting and getting out the door. It was a speed game but I could do it. Now I have to add extra time into the routine to allow for everything to get done. Interupted sleep due to the nightly toilet run is one humbug that I could do without but the morning routine is also getting longer and more complicated.
For a while it took just a few seconds to take the necessary medication; a couple of tablets, a puff of the inhaler and a couple of skooshes of a nasal spray. More recently I added hearing aids which need to be popped in each ear and checked that they have connected to the ubiquitous app. Today I have included attaching a granny chain for my glasses which spend as much time off my nose as on it. At this rate I will have to stay up after the mid-nightly wee to fit it all in before breakfast! A small price to pay to be able to continue enjoying my pensionista years.
*Swack is an Orkney dialect word meaning agile or flexible
Significantly Different 