Groan

        When I was in my 50's, I had both knees replaced. It made be remember that my feet do not work.
         Getting out of bed always reminds me that I will never again be free of aches and pains. But then, as I take my pills that ease some of those aches and pains, it occurs to me that the goal of each day is to see how well I can appear to feel good. It's not just old age, because many of the kinks in my body started years ago.
          My feet started hurting when I was chasing my toddlers around the house. I remember buying "old lady shoes" in order to have some comfort. Athletic shoes were not on the market at that time for people other than those in professional sports. I think the last pair of spike heels I owned were the ones I wore at my wedding. Before that, I wore high heels to work every day. It should have been enough for me to be skinny and somewhat attractive. But, alas, it wasn't. I just had to add those spikes.
           My knees are occasionally irritating, but the current medical forecast is for replacement hips. I'm not going to worry about that. As long as I can fold up into a sitting position, I think I'll be just fine. 
          My ankles were in bad shape even before my feet hurt, probably because I was a klutzy kid and was always turning them. My knees started hurting when I was in my 40's. 
          Now, my teeth hurt, my eyesight is not so sharp as it once was, and my hands and arms bruise as fast as food stains form on my shirt. My ears ring until I put on my hearing aids. The enviable news is that I have had no more than three or four headaches in my lifetime.
          Most of the health issues I have turn out to be arthritis, and for that I am grateful. My father had rheumatoid arthritis and rarely complained. He finally moved off his acreage when he was 87, but I was told that the day before he moved he was driving post holes and setting a fence. I need to be like him, although I think I'll forget the post hole digging.
           I need to stop complaining. I anticipate that I will have 20 or 30 more years of this. It shouldn't be about how bad I feel, but about how good I feel. Many people have physical conditions that are much worse. Each morning I need to celebrate that I actually can get out of bed.