Slightly older
May 10th
I had a very productive last weekend. On Saturday, I took my mom for big shopping that required me to go to and from the market to a car that was parked far away, carrying crater after crate of flowers for the garden. Then I did actually work in the garden — cutting the tops of six trees that grew too tall. Each was about 3 meters to cut for each tree, and that was unpleasant, hard, and dirty work — by hand saw because it was dangerous to get a chain saw there. Then I dug and pulverized about 20 square meters of the garden for the flowers — by hand with just a spade and a rake. And there was some other garden variety garden work as well. On Sunday I went for a 20 kilometers bike ride, then an hour kayaking, then a 10-kilometer walk. While I was doing all that, I felt slight exhaustion, but it was a pleasant feeling. I like getting tired after physical extortion, as long as I know I haven’t overextended myself and enjoyed the work. Which I did.
Today is Tuesday and I am in pain. My left arm feels like cramping all the time from my elbow all the way to my pinky. It makes typing difficult and cumbersome. There is some dull and annoying pain in my right knee that makes me walk slowly and without bending said knee to ease the pain. There is also a strange scratching sound in my other knee with any quicker than normal movement. My lower back locked itself as I was getting out of the shower, but after some stretching feels almost normal now. I know I am getting older, and I know that with each passing year my body will require more care for less performance, but it is still just theoretical knowledge. I refuse to accept that in my case, as it is with everybody else, I can no longer do what was normal and painless a couple of years ago. I still believe that there might be an exception just for me from the burden of older age.
Obviously, I will not stop working in my garden. Of course, I can hire someone to do the heavy work there, but what is the point of having a garden when someone else does the work there? A couple of hours in the shade under the tree with my dog next to me — after getting work done — is just so unbelievably amazing. I will not stop physical activity as well — biking, kayaking, and especially hiking — I enjoy it and need it to stay in shape (there is my vanity on display again). That makes my dull working hours go faster when I know that my bike is waiting for me or that I can plan another kayaking session and another hike for the weekend. But, just to cut it a little. Just a tiny bit to compensate for another year under my belt. But only so to let me still pretend that aging is not affecting me.
