Aging:  It’s a Gift.….and a Curse
.
.
Aging.
I never thought 
about it happening to me.
Getting old, yes.
Aging. No.
.
My old “funny” mantra
“first you stoop,
and then you droop,
getting old is chicken poop,”
is now the truth,
and not so funny.
.
Two years ago,
I had a gift of aging:
bilateral cataracts.
At first it was a curse:
I was angry that I couldn’t see
my daughter’s driveway,
and would drive right by it,
cursing that the driveway 
“needs to be marked better
and lit better.”
A few days before I figured
I’d have to give up driving,
an optometrist told me 
my sight had a curse of aging
I had cataracts that were like
looking thru waxed paper.
.
Then, Thanksgiving week,
and the week after,
a gift: 
a seven minute miracle:
cataract surgery.
till amazed at the skill of the
surgeon,
and amazed that anyone 
could figure out how
to do it,
then be able to teach surgeons
how to figure out the lens to
put in each eye,
after removing the diseased lens.
I am grateful for the gift: 
miracle of seeing things I’ve 
never seen before.
Even when younger,
my eyesight wasn’t this good!.
.
The curse became a gift.
.
Curse number two
was becoming more and more
an invalid due to an aging
spinal column.
The surgeons again,
performed a miracle.
The gift of standing upright
again.
.
Then the gifted physical therapist,
the victim of my cursing,
resistance, and anger,
patiently and persistently
ignoring my rantings
day by day turned 
another curse into a 
gift.
I am able to walk again,
and do things on my bucket list,
that I never thought
would be possible.
.
The curse became a gift, again.
,
Getting old, can seem like a curse,
but it can also be a gift of 
appreciation
for what we still have functioning,
and a greater appreciation
for those who help us 
regain what we almost lost.
.
Curses of aging 
becoming  gifts
of living to our highest 
potential
as long as we can.
.
.

Inspired by Becca Givens and her Mom
Dedicated to the medical doctors, surgeons, and Robert, the physical therapist.


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