Does anybody ever find getting out of bed in the morning enjoyable? No seriously, I ask because I’m not a fan of this exercise. I get up because well … one usually needs to do that sort of thing to be a somewhat functioning member of society, and now that we’ve again turned the clocks back, I was expecting it to be so much easier. I was wrong, not any easier getting up and still not enjoyable.
And I get up early too, like 6 am or thereabouts early, to trundle out of bed in the dark, heading in the general direction of the kitchen. Along the way I occasionally I stub my toe on some hidden hazard like say … the refrigerator … and try my level best to not wake up all of Burmis while totally losing my shit. It’s an endeavor in which I’m afraid to say I’m not always successful. Most mornings though are thankfully accident free, but rarely without pain. I think that’s just reality for those of us in our 50’s. Something always hurts and most of the time we have no idea why it hurts, it just hurts, and so you get on with your business and eventually the pain goes away or recedes to some obscure part of your brain no longer easily accessible while nominally awake. Weird? Yes, for sure it is but listen, so is being 56.
In my mind though I don’t see myself as 56. Don’t laugh, that is not as unusual as you think. According to an article I read in the Atlantic Monthly, adults over 40 routinely perceive themselves to be 20% younger than their actual age. Now me, I’m a ‘highflyer’ because in my head my age is somewhere in the mid-30’s, which is a 35% age difference. There is very little correlation then between ‘that guy’ and the one looking back at me in the mirror every morning. ‘That guy’ has an almost full head of brown hair and 9% body fat and yeah, I don’t know where the Hell he went. And don’t even think of asking my soul how old I am because seriously, my soul doesn’t even know what decade it is.
We cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning. For what was great in the morning will be little at evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening become a lie.
Carl Jung
Right, so onward we go … this Triumvirate of Me … my 56-year-old physical body with all its creaks and groans, my mind who tells me all the time that we’re only 35 (and I sometimes actually believe that too) and my soul, headbanging to ‘Maiden’ and mostly living in 1989 … the three of us collectively moving forward into the ‘Afternoon of Life’ and squabbling all the way; and you thought getting old was so fucking easy!
Well, it’s not, but it ain’t half bad either; there’s lots of hockey on in the afternoon of life … I’m watching hockey right now as I write, and I’ll be watching hockey for pretty much the rest of the day. I did though honestly make a reasonable attempt at getting into town this morning for some Xmas shopping. I really did, but I never quite made it. Travelled all of 10 km before stopping for fuel and then turning around and going home. Hey, if I went to town, I’d be amongst you know … human beings … and there would be a high likelihood of me having to interact with them so … yeah, I know right? And besides, I had a quadruple header of hockey to watch!
Next Day …
Alright, so where was I? Oh yeah, the triumvirate reconciliation of me in the ‘Afternoon of Life.’
It’s an ongoing process, but all three of me are finally in agreement on this – ‘Afternoon of Life’ is quite different from anything we’ve previously experienced, and this will probably necessitate some form of change. But what are those changes to be, and how far are we to go with all this? Okay, so WeThreeMe has no fucking idea, but We are trying to figure it out, usually in that pre-dawn, 6 am darkness I talked about earlier, and pounding back a Nespresso Double Smash or two. Except this morning because well … We slept in. Go figure, eh?
The day after the Next Day …
WeThreeMe came together for a meet up this morning at 7 am and as you might have guessed, nothing of consequence whatsoever was accomplished. To be honest, the effort just wasn’t there; Franklin the Dink (cat) needed feeding, then he had to go out and 5 minutes later he had to come back in (the Dink doesn’t like the wind – but really who does?). BodhiBoy Megastar heard all this going on and disturbed Mom to the point where she booted his ass out of the bedroom, allowing him to join the party and we all rocked out to Huey Lewis and the News.
Hey, we were so having an ‘Afternoon of Life’ moment here … and first thing in the morning too – me a Gen X’er, one diva dog and a total dink cat just getting down and shaking our asses (well the Gen X’er was shaking it, the diva could be found sitting by the bedroom door hoping mom would open it and offer an escape from the overly caffeinated lunatic in the kitchen, while Franklin slept in front of the stove dreaming the usual dreams of a psychotic feline assassin).
That’s good though, isn’t it? You know, not the diva / assassin bits but that other part about shaking your ass in the dark? Like seriously, why wouldn’t you? Does it look ridiculous? Yeah probably, but why should we ‘Afternoon of Lifers’ care? Besides, it’s fun and nobody gets hurt (unless of course you pull a muscle, which is a very real possibility at our age, isn’t it?).
A few days after the next day after the Next Day …
‘Afternoon of Life’ moment … Grandson arrived this morning for a visit. Within minutes there were bells ringing, sirens wailing, balls a bouncing and I was struck on the toe by a real drumstick (it hurt). We watched Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, Charlie Brown and Moana and when we didn’t want to eat any more apple we threw it on the floor.
A day after what you just read above …
Its a hockey day again, another one of those Saturday quadruple headers so as you can imagine I’m quite busy. I did however for a moment consider getting up from my desk and slipping into the fully equipped weight room to pump a bit of iron. It’s an ‘Afternoon of Life’ thing to do right? I’ve been considering this for two months now and well … it hasn’t quite happened yet, and I can’t even come up with a decent excuse either. It’s going to happen though, because it MUST happen, and it WILL happen, maybe Monday eh, after I ski!
Another ‘Afternoon of Life’ necessity – social interaction! Oh man, this one fucking kills me, but I AM trying. About 10 days ago we were invited out to a social and yes, I made a concerted effort to get out of it. Someone however wouldn’t let me get out of it. Know what? I had an amazing time! So … for those of you I had the pleasure to visit with … muchas gracias! Just say YES, right? Yeah, I just might … so be careful with those invites lol!!!
‘Afternoon of Life’ problem – Death! What? Well, it is a problem now, isn’t it? Seriously, who wants to be dead? I’m too busy to be dead! But the Reaper doesn’t care, and he IS waiting, so yeah that’s a problem. And I do think about that more than I used to, I think we all do, because the runway is a bit shorter than it used to be.
We cannot live the ‘Afternoon of Life’ according to the program of life’s morning … I honestly don’t think that I am, but I don’t have the ‘afternoon program’ worked out either, does anybody? I doubt it but hey, if you think you have that shit figured then ‘rock on’ man! Me, well I’m going to keep doing my best based on what I’m faced with each day, keep learning, evolving, trying to be better. There is no such thing as perfection here, so if you are going forward, just keep going, and … say YES!!!
See you soon!