I'm under no misapprehension that as we age changes will be the norm -- physical, financial, health and such. Today found me doing firsts that pushed one's age up into one's face <smirk> more than usual. To be honest, I rarely think about my age, so when something forces me to do so, it can be surprising. I haven't felt like what I thought might occur at certain ages. I am not hiding from it, I just have to stop and think when asked how old I am. I'm trying to do mental math and finding that difficult; none of my three degrees was in math <smile>.
As a health professional, I've been acutely aware that research in gerontology and geriatrics has been sadly underfunded for decades. This, despite knowing that a large wave of Baby Boomers was headed into retirement age. There have been some heartening beginnings in the past few years, but this is far too late, when the middle of the boomer cohort is about 63 (range about 53-73 depending on the definition of the years involved -- if the definition of boomers couldn't be agreed upon, no wonder we couldn't get clinical, social and psychological research up and running <sigh>). Some wonderful research into aging had been part of the NASA shuttle missions and lab studies at Johnson Space Center. These studies help with understanding of bone, muscle and fat mass changes with aging and with being confined to bed -- even for a few days for an infection. So, now we see people up and walking to the bathroom just hours after a hip replacement. New biologic medications are treating many difficulties common in older aged adults. Very cool, indeed. I didn't mean to make it sound hopeless, but we could have been much further down this road if we'd stopped arguing about who was going to be navigator and just started the journey. <sigh>
Lyrics from the selection of the day address how time can pass by while moving forward. Enjoy!
Fly Like an Eagle -- Steve Miller Band
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