GROWING OLD OR AS I LIKE TO CALL IT, PRETENDING IT'S NOT HAPPENING.

Grabbers, Can opener grabbers, OTC pain medicine, Step stool. Fire extinguisher, Yellow pages so you can call Ghost Busters.

Good morning. No one is more surprised to find me sitting here, than, well, me.
I will have to start and come back later. I have my Yoga class which I'm afraid of. Yes. I dragged a very heavy package yesterday and my back muscles are unhappy. So are my hands and some other parts I will need to stay on my feet. I'm going anyway because, I'm pretending it's not happening.

Then I will race (ha ha) home to change so I can meet some friends for lunch. Which I like to do except for the eating part. Because, as you age, your metabolism slows down and if you eat, it sticks like glue. You can pretend it's not happening, but me? Well, this one is harder in the land of pretend. I never learned to NOT see what's in the mirror. So, I try not to eat  too much. Except chocolate. So I can't waste calories on real food. Except on the doctors surveys, I pretend to eat enough vegetables and fruits. And they pretend to believe me.

Here is the drill for those of you who haven't reached this stage. There is no actual age. It's as individual as we are. Some hit it at thirty, some at sixty and some never get there. I'm not talking about people who die. God forbid. too tooo tooo spit.  Just people who are lucky and age well.  With or without surgical help. In this I include surgeries that save your life, replace body parts and make you look younger. Or make us pretend that you look younger.

LESSONS:

• You pretend your clothing shrank in the wash.
• You pretend that they are sealing bottles stronger than they used to, to insure that the contents don't get contaminated.
• You blame swelling in your hands on water retention.
• Just like they have made dinner plates larger, they have made your kitchen cabinets higher so you can no longer reach them.
• You, your spouse and your friends haven't aged. You are shocked to meet new people your age, and they look so old. You wonder where they went wrong.
• You pretend that what I just wrote is true.
• You're buying larger clothing sizes because the Chinese are either screwing with us, or don't understand our sizing because they are so small because they can't afford to eat.
• You pretend to believe what I just wrote.

  

• When the doctor puts you on medicine for Cholesterol, you know you're okay. High number run in your family so you don't have to worry about your eating habits.
• You pretend to believe what I just wrote.
• When your joints hurt, you blame the weather. Or an old surgery.
• You pretend that you are not in pain somewhere in your body on most days. This is true because it seems to move around. So what could be wrong? 

I could go on, but I don't think I need to. You're all quite smart. And when you or I don't know something, it is because we can't remember it. We are not stupid. And we don't have dementia. Hmm  Maybe I do? How would I know?

This reminded me I need to make an appointment with my hairdresser. Man, that is an old term. Who "dresses" their hair anymore? For that matter, who ever did? Anyway, I need to put some more dark in the light. So I can pretend I am younger so that I can think I'm younger?

this photo came up in a search for white haired people. Is my point vindicated?


Now I'm wondering why do I pretend? I can't speak for anyone else, although I usually do because who's going to stop me?
Anyway. Why? I have this image in my head of what "old" looked like when I was a lot younger. It looked awful. It probably was because medicine and lifestyle changes have come a long way. Still. Why should I care? I'm married and my husband would be fine if I gained weight and he wouldn't notice the wrinkles  or anything except if I cut my hair really short.

This was the first pic I found with my hair really short. I'm with Dr. Brian L. Weiss, author of Many Live, Many Masters. Actually this as the perfect picture to pull. I forgot. It doesn't matter. I'm going to be reincarnated and do it all again. YAY!

Okay. I don't want to grow old because to me, it brings me closer to the end of life. So, if I pretend I'm not there, maybe I won't have to acknowledge what we all know to be true.


 

Thanks for Reading

DO YOU HAVE GOOD LUCK? BAD LUCK? OR NO LUCK AT ALL?

Apparently, the concept of luck has been with humans for a really long time. I hadn't even thought of that until I looked for a symbol to illustrate this post. This one combines several cultures.

So, what is "luck"?  According to my dear friend Webster, Luck is: 1. The seemingly chance happening of events which affect one: fortune; fate.
2. good fortune, success, etc. (hmm. should a dictionary be allowed to use the term etc. ?   It seems that when you're business is to define something, that's a cop out. Anyway) 

The rest goes on to use some colloquialisms, and to define lucky, which is basically the same, but an adjective.

I like that it said, "the seemingly chance" happening. This would suggest, at least to me, that they are hedging their bets and not saying that luck is definitely random.           And it would seem not be all that random.

I'm not looking that up. It means by chance, with no design and completely by happenstance.



 


That being said.  I've read about at least three or four people who have won the big lottery twice. TW#ICE!!

When I lived in NY I sent in money to play a buck a week for a year. In that year, I won $1. That was it. I'm sure you know friends who get those quick picks or whatever games they have and often win something. They get more money and usually give it back.  That's the part that doesn't seem so random. But I digress.

What kind of luck do you think you have? Or should I ask what you feel you have?  Sorry, I had to throw that in.

 I have given luck some thought.  I believe there are many different types of luck. Some examples are good luck, good bad luck, bad luck, terrible luck, no luck and as I write, I'll probably think of some more.

Personally, I think I have good, bad luck. You'll no doubt need an example.


Good luck, is never having a flat tire. Good bad luck, is having a flat tire in your driveway, or in the olden days, in front of your school where you could make a phone call and stand outside in the rain for 40 minutes.  Yeah, maybe that wasn't so lucky.  Bad luck is having a flat tire in the ghetto very late at night without a cell phone or gun. And probably being a person who is white.
No luck, is not having a car.

I think you might be getting the idea.  I think some of it does depend upon your attitude. You can choose to see all negative things as bad luck, or karma or fate, or you can look at the positive side to it and feel better about what happened.

You also can help your luck just like anything else. It is true, you have to be in it to win it. You can't say you never got a job if you never applied. Right?

I will grant you that some people just seem to have a shit load of bad luck dumped on them. It's hard for me to understand sometimes because I haven't dealt with those types of things. You know, being homeless and jobless.

I do know some people though who seem to have a hand in their bad luck.  You know, gambling or drinking the mortgage money. Some people have a disease that if not checked, will contribute to lousy luck. Everyone knows people like this. We all think we know how to help them, if they would only listen to us, they could get out of the mess. And sometimes that's true.

We also know that people don't listen to advice and maybe they need to experience this shit so they can learn something. At least I hope so. I'd hate to see so much suffering for no reason.

 

As I'm writing this, I started to think about one of the words I used. Karma.  Back to Webster. In Sanskrit, it meant fate. In Buddhism & Hinduism, a person's actions in one reincarnation thought of determining his fate in the next.


Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, you might understand that when things seem to be bad luck, they may be the universe or God's way of challenging you. Having bad things happen, losing, making mistakes, these are how we all learn. So maybe it's a teaching method.



One thing I do know is that there are very few things in this world that I have any control over.  Someone I love dies. I need surgery. You need surgery. Your house burns down. The list is endless.

The only thing you have control over is how you see it. Your attitude. My attitude. That's it.

One of my favorite quotes is by Aldus Huxley, he said, "Experience isn't what happens to you, it's what you do with what happens to you". (I was close)

           

ANSWER TO THE TITLE QUESTION:

You have, whatever kind of luck, you believe you have.  You can take that to the bank.