You who know me, know that I take photos of everything and everybody. The older I get, the more I avoid being photographed!
They say that age is relative, but I only agree up to a point. My mother-in-law is 88 and she lives with us. She is a talented, creative and intellegent person and used to love sport. She played tennis until she was almost seventy and after that she took up bowling. Here she excelled and enjoyed the game for many years, well into her eighties. Always a seamstress who used to make most of her own clothes, she took to quilting like a duck to water. Her neat little stitches looked as if made by a sewing machine.
Now enters old age onto the stage of life. Nagging backache put a stop to playing bowls. Painful joints and fingers make her beloved sewing and quilting difficult. Weakening eyesight limits reading and hearing problems are causing her to withdraw more. Back and knee pains brought her driving to a standstill a few months ago. This means that going for walks changed from pleasure to punishment. I can go on and on! We take walking, talking, cooking, playing, driving, sewing, gardening, shopping and many more daily activities for granted. In fact, they are gifts! Even washing the dishes is a pleasurable activity if one can do it without pain!
By the grace of God, her mind is still razor-sharp. Her memory is better than mine and she loves the weekly crossword puzzle in her favourite magazine. However, every day I see how pain robs her of joy. Constant pain is like a black hole. It draws everything in, absorbs it and destroys. Yes, I know that we are spiritual beings who are only travelling through this life, but old age and not easy to live with on a daily basis.
What was I saying? Oh yes, about age being relative. My teenaged son regards me as an old person when I complain about his music or his wild scateboard tricks. Never mind. I know better.
