As Good as I Once Was

You know people are guilty of many things and I can cop to a number of them. See, it takes some kind of talent to say that you are guilty without mentioning what you are guilty of. In my case and in many others we are guilty of complaining about how old we are.

I don't really think that any of us really feel that old. We don't really think about ourselves as being that old yet we find that our bodies don't respond and or react the way that they used to and it is disconcerting. I think that one of the key elements here is that we are not so far removed from whatever time it was in which they did as we wish that we cannot remember how it used to be. How is that for convoluted.

At a recent doctor's appointment I was told that I have severe arthritis in both knees and he recommended that I give up playing basketball. After I told him that he might as well ask me to give up sex, eating, music, reading, time with my children and blogging (why stop with one part of my life that I love, take it all) I stood up and demonstrated a series of deep knee bends.

That cracking noise that you heard was my knees, but they really didn't hurt. For that matter they almost never hurt unless I get into one of those squatting positions that little children assume. You know the one where their butt is a quarter inch off of the floor. They usually do this just before they grab some dangerous object to shove into the R&D factory known as their mouths.

It was only yesterday that I could still grab the rim. It was just last week that I could play five days in a row without feeling winded and more importantly the next day my legs felt great, no aches or pains and no pinched nerve in my neck.

I don't know about you but I keep expecting some sort of informercial for the fountain of youth pills to come down across the top of my blog, or maybe not.

Out on the court I run with the young bucks. I cannot do everything I used to. Master Yoda says "no can't" and I listen to him, truly I do. I really do believe that I can still do it all and do it the way that I used to. But the problem is that I cannot do it with the same frequency or consistency and in some cases I just can't do it like I used to.

I lost a footrace to a kid who never should have beaten me. I know that I am faster but at just short of 37 I can't bring it up immediately. That is, I can't just walk onto the court and have my legs respond. I need a few minutes to warm up the engine and then they respond as they are meant to.

It is a little disconcerting. When did I turn into the guy who has to stretch. Who voted for this program. How did I miss the election, I don't get it.

So I have decided to try and test myself. My goal is to see if I can turn back the clock a little. My desire is to adopt a healthier diet and to really bear down on transforming myself into an updated version of the 1989 model of Jack.

Part of that means that I am going to try and make an effort not to say things like "I am getting older or I can't believe how old I feel." Yes, I am going to use the Force. Now what did I do with my light saber.