How Old Folks Cope
One of the things I and my wife must navigate in our “Golden Years” are regular bouts of pain. How I wish I could take her pain, if only because her threshold for pain is much lower than mine. Plus, she is one of those who won’t go see a doctor.
On occasion, I’ll have a particularly bad day during her bout. I find it interesting that hers occurs daily between 10:00AM and 3:00 PM. What despite it all that I find amusing are the moments when she goes “ah ah” and I’ll begin “mmm mmm”. Eventually the sounds begin to alternate with a chorus of “mmm mmm” “ah ah” in perfect harmony. I begin a gentle chuckle, because often it’s better to laugh than cry. I suppose the next step is to add lyrics.
mmm mmm ah ah
Look at us we’ve come this far.
Turn our pain to a song.
Praying we don’t have to sing too long!
One of the great things about growing old is even in the more difficult moments, we can find ways to extract a smile. It’s been a difficult week for this old soul. Today is Friday and I’m scheduled to give a short talk Sunday night for Kol Nidre. So of course, Wednesday, I come down with a UTI. I reach out to my doctor and explain my situation. Normally they want to do a urinalysis, but considering the tight schedule, we took a chance on getting the right antibiotic. As recently as this morning, I was not sure if it would work, but now it is clear it is.
It will be good to see my friends. It is said that when one grows old, our world shrinks. Besides my wife who is not much on conversation, this social butterfly lives a very solitary existence. A caregiver comes for a two-hour time slot once a week, and we have wonderful conversations, but that’s about it. Though a friend from shul reached out to me last week about coming by for a visit and for that person I am so grateful. But regardless, I try to stay busy and productive. Neither of us drive anymore, so it does get lonely at time.
One thing I’ve noticed is the degree to which my day is planned. So, I’m a late sleeper. Always was, so no surprises there. I arise, do morning prayers, watch videos, and catch news while eating breakfast, then turn my attention to one of several possible tasks, including Talmud study, writing, reading archaeology magazines and journals, plus fulfill any duties connected with my participation as leader of the card team for our caring committee to request and track cards sent. Oh, and any housework needing completion. Then around 3:15 I fix supper. About 4:30 I check Facebook, Tik Tok, and Threads. At 6:15, there is evening prayers, then a replay of one of the Time Team shows. It’s a British series of archaeological digs. It lasted 20 seasons, then recently through Patreon have begun doing new digs in the UK. I’ve seen all the programs, but they are relaxing and each time I rewatch one, I pick up on facts I may have missed before. Then I go to bed at 8PM and watch silly videos until I get sleepy and doze off. Lol rinse and repeat!
If I were more mobile and still drove, I’d go back to my old photography hobby, and spend a lot of time at my synagogue doing volunteer work. But as mentioned before, my world has shrunk. I just realized I had talked about some of this in a previous post. Lol memory loss is a real thing don’tcha know. I think I’ll leave it as is because this description of my routine included more detail. L’shana Tova. May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
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