KNOWING YOUR LIMITATIONS
Growing older is not for wimps. Don't you hate not being able to do things you used to do? I was at a church luau on Saturday and there were games after the food. One of them was seeing who could hula hoop the longest. When I was a kid, I used to hula hoop up and down the steps in front of our house - about 15 steps or so I think. I could keep that thing whirling however long I pleased. I thought I'd do great when I realized what I'd just volunteered for. Um, not so much. The thing went around once and dived straight for my ankles! Fortunately, the other women were equally inept at it. LOL One of them put the hoop around her neck and whirled it around a couple of times. I immediately followed her example but I could keep it up pretty well around my neck. I won the prize, a pair of gaudy plastic glasses with lights that blinked. LOL

But what I wasn't counting on was the NEXT DAY. All my muscles were sore down my back and I had trouble turning my head. I puzzled about it for several hours until it dawned on me what I'd done to myself. I think it's universal that we forget we can't do what we used to do. My mother-in-law fell again yesterday. She was out walking again even though I'd told her NOT to go while she had a cast on her arm, and certainly not to go in slip on sandals. We'd also told her to start taking her cane. She did NONE of those things and fell headlong into the pavement. She suffered a mild concussion but I had to spend the night here last night and check her every 3 hours. When we were upset with her for not doing what she'd been told, she said she'd always done it. When I pointed out that she's 82 and you can't do at 82 what you did when you were 30, she said she thought if she continued to do it all, she'd keep the ability. Um, no.

So what did you used to do that you realized you can't anymore? I always wanted to go whitewater rafting too. I think if I want to do that, I'm going to need to accomplish it soon. LOL

Labels: aging, growing older, hula hoop