September 03, 2005

Aging and the slow demise

After 11 years, I saw a good friend of mine from the days back in the hood. Our lives are so different from what they once were. Besides the fact that we both put baby fat in fashion again, it was very nice to be reminded of our lives removed from 11 years ago.

We had a wonderful Thai dinner at Typhoon with great conversation reminiscing about the past and future. Todd has been with Cindy for the past 8 years, and there is often banter about the fact that she is 8 years his senior. When I pulled out my ipod to show some photos, Cindy pulled out the reading glasses. We both had a good laugh at her expense. Later, Todd pulled out his drivers license because Cindy insisted that the photo was not him. The photo was taken years ago, when we both were at least 30 pounds lighter. I guess the strain I was showing, trying to read the license prompted Cindy to give me her reading glasses. I insisted it was the light. I could not believe that all of the sudden, I could read everything on the card, regardless of the light, or size of the lettering. I bet if I looked with a little effort, I'd be able to read thru the card! All of the sudden, I was facing a head on collision with the train of aging.

First my back, then my knees and other joints, but I could live with those. I haven't been working out and if I did, my little maladies would go away. But at the flick of my wrist, twisting the glasses on and off, I saw reality and a reality with a crutch. I always felt proud that all my siblings, including my parents wore glasses by their teens. Without admitting, I am much older than being a teen and lived without having to wear glasses all this time. My dominance of being on that thrown is tumbling down.

I think Cindy felt a little bad about being the one to bring on this epiphany. While it is true that I will tell this story for years to come, I can't think of a better situation of finding that time does move on and waits for no one. Great friends, great food and drink, and the always creeping slow demise...
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1 comment:

Randy said...

Aging is something that affects all of us, whether we like it or not. Most of us don't like it. My eyesight has always been extraordinary and it's hard to accept the fact that I need to wear glasses to focus on a newspaper or book. At least you have your health! Here is something I found, written by a phtoographer...

First, if you wear glasses or contacts, make sure your prescription is as good as it can be. I keep noticing slight changes in my vision and a corresponding change in my ability to focus on the matte portion of the screen. I can get pretty close, but not dead on. Getting my eyes checked and a new pair of glasses solves the problem to an extent which leads us to caveat #2. As you get older, your ability to see the screen changes. Your eyes don't focus down to 3 feet any more, and 3 feet is about the effective optical distance to the screen through the prism. You can fix this on most of today's cameras by adjusting the viewfinder diopter.

 
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