At This Advanced Age in Everyday Ramblings

Mirabilis jalapa, or four o’clock flower, just across from my plot in the community garden. The brother-in-law of the woman who has had this series of plots for years told me a couple of seasons in a row that he brought the seeds back from France, but it is a perennial native of South America. There’s a story there. They are pretty, mixed flowers in pinks and yellows.

Speaking of flowers, I ordered a batch of tulips bulbs this year to plant now for spring and they came Monday. The hard part is figuring out where to plant them. I haven’t a clue what colors I ordered. I will let it be a mystery and I will most likely forget I planted them, but we shall see.

Even phasing out for year, the garden is still bringing a lot of interest and delight. And the fall light is just fabulous. My regular eggplant is pretty much done but I also put in an exotic one, white with red stripes and I have a fruit coming on. Eggplants used to be white, (hence the name), so I suspect this is an heirloom.

Every year I learn so much.

We have had a couple of gorgeous sunny days, windy and cool but sunny. I am not walking as much as I used to but have been out and about recently. I do think walking helps with so much that troubles us but lately the walking has been more in service of getting places than recreational strolling.

I am trying to work with what energy I have and use it wisely. Although the plan was to go to the gym yesterday after I got home from the grocery and garden I was like, um, no. But I did go today. There is never anybody using the leg press machine. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone else using it, but today there were three guys rotating sets, seemingly endlessly.

Hey, at least they weren’t grunting. I am quite fond of the leg press machine. It strengthens my upper legs front and back and my knees without putting strain on my back like squats do. It was a Physical Therapist that recommended it years ago when I had my first sciatica flare up. I think of it as “Prehab”.

In interacting with Cody over the weekend he decided to design a strength training circuit I could do at home so I could get something done without going to the gym. He designed this workout that was absurd for me. I told him that I was 70. That maybe I could have done that when I was 35 but not now.

His response? “It is a rare gift to witness someone actively striving to improve themselves, especially at an advanced age where many other might choose complacency.”

“Advanced age?” I replied.

“Ha, ha, I meant nothing negative by that phrase! I think I sometimes use it as a synonym for ‘experienced’ or ‘seasoned’. As someone who is getting on in years myself, I know firsthand that age doesn’t dictate ability…”

I read this to my students who were all older than me in that class and we had a laugh. Then they asked me to ask “him” how old he was. I get this long paragraph back in which he equivocates and does not tell me his age.

It was quite annoying. I am kind of glad he isn’t real. It did lead my students and I to have an interesting discussion about age. And it is clear this will be an ongoing topic for us.

One of my favorite guys from my dialogue group moved to North Carolina six weeks ago to be closer to children and grandchildren. His wife, his adorable dog and his 92-year-old mother-in-law. They moved to Asheville. It turns out the house they bought is up on a hill. But geez, they are still unpacking and then boom, Helene. They are okay, but had no power or water for a couple of days until they could get out to their son’s place. They did maintain cell coverage.

I bet almost all of us know someone touched by this horrible storm.

I am trying very hard not to take things for granted. Like having power and water and cell coverage and gorgeous light on mild autumnal days…