"But you don't look 73!"

What does 73 look like? I can line up 6 men who are
each 73 years old and each would be completely different looking  from the
other--one may being using a walker, another a motorized wheel chair while a
third is playing tennis or swimming laps and the fourth depends on an oxygen
tank to breath and the fifth jogs around as the sixth takes a power walk.

I live in a senior resident community of 260
apartments with people ranging in age from 62 to 93+--the latter just took a
couple of weeks of ballroom dancing!!!--so they are some things I see old people
sharing about age.

When we are younger we are told about some of the
things we may face when we age--incontinence--or we observe Billy Crystal with
the loose teeth and tongue going in and out--but that doesn't even scratch the
surface.

Get 2-3 people over 60 and you know they will be
talking about aches, pains, illnesses, doctors and 'old' people.

A man wearing too much cologne? A woman drenched in
perfume? Yes, chances they are senior citizens. Their sense of smell diminishes
and they try to compensate for it.

Remember that guy who use to show off eating dozens
of the hottest peppers? He doesn't/won't do it anymore. Food that our body
tolerates, enjoys, when we are younger, start repeating on us as we get older.

Spicy foods lose their taste as do most foods and we
find ourselves restricted as to what we can add to make them less bland. Salt is
a no-no and we have to watch our sugar intake along with high blood pressure and
other diet concerns. Yes, we need less calories as we grow old but that doesn't
mean we want to eat less or, worse, we lose our appetite!

The food show off no longer shows off while he/she
might be found napping  or their eyes closing around 4 in the afternoon or they
can be found wandering around their place at 4 AM unable to sleep.

Yes he weighs exactly what he did at 30 or 40 or 50
but now his body has shifted and he has a belly while she bemoans all that has
gone sagging.

Little things add up--the hair getting thinner or
going bald---all of  a sudden you are colder in winter, feeling the heat more in
summer--wanting to stay in on the weekends or calling it an early evening during
the week--loud noises, especially children's voices, drive you crazy--you have
to put the volume of the TV a little higher or ask, in a movie or at a play,
'What did he say?"--you start going to doctors more often--you won't admit it
but you are a little shorter, as is your patience--and that's just a little
ahead of you.

Don't get me wrong--there is a lot that is great
about getting old but that's for another blog! :O)