One of the most challenging aspects of 'getting older' can be pain in parts of the body: continual, coming and going, random, without explanation, and not happening all at once, thankfully.
For example, this morning I woke up with a sore knee and thought, 'What the ...?' because the brain seeks a reason. Could it be because I did too much gardening yesterday, or maybe I overdid it on the kick pedal of the bass drum on Saturday and I'm having a delayed reaction today, or maybe it's just 'one of those things' (which is how I explain alot).
Hard to know.
If you do an internet search for 'pain as we age' it brings up all manner of horrors, and after reading some of that, every body part starts hurting, including eyes and fingernails. There's arthritis, inflammation of old joint cartilage, bones that are osteoporotic, hormonal changes, and of course just plain old injury. Gee whiz.
The other day a friend and I were comparing our arthritic fingers and thumbs. Apparently women are more susceptible to osteoarthritis than men, especially in the knees and hands, and the pain is worse for us girls. Interesting but not much consolation there.
My Mom always said to me, 'Jane, you have such interesting ailments' and I seem to recall her saying this to me alot. I could write a book about those, as I suppose most of us can, and I was a source of investigative and forensic interest to her with my extraordinary feats of ailing. Some of the ones I have now, as an older person, would give her no end of fascination.
Pain was a constant companion for Mom during her later years with us, an unwelcome hanger-on that she bore with little complaint and such stoicism. I think this is where the old age ain't for sissies thing really comes to the fore, and I suspect she would agree.
American actress Mae West lived to be 87 and she was well known for her sharp wit and humour. She is quoted as saying, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself” and I reckon there's some truth in the words.
There were times in my life when I didn't take very good care of myself, and maybe those times come back to bite us in the bum as we get older, however it is never too late to 'take better care' of ourselves, roll up the sleeves, and keep on truckin'.