Doing eighty and loving it!

Mother Nature May I Grow Old
I’m doing eighty and it’s all downhill from here!
Staying young is a losing battle and I surrendered years ago. I know when I’m licked. The mirror doesn’t lie even if my well meaning friends do when they say, “you haven’t changed in fifteen years”. Maybe they haven’t changed their glasses in fifteen years. I gave up the illusion of youth years ago when I stopped dying my hair and realized you can’t fool Mother Nature, and nobody really cares anyway. I love my white hair and have night mares that my hair has turned dark again.
I now do things that youth and false pride denied me.
I shower daily in the summer and shower and shampoo only twice a week in the winter. My cat doesn’t mind.
I let my cat walk on the counters tops in the kitchen. I can’t stop her.
I shout for another checker when the line gets too long in the market.
I talk to strangers of all ages, sexes, and nationality.
I shop at thrift stores and pay little for my clothes. I blow what I save on clothes on my expensive feet. I have to pay over $130.00 for my shoes, but only if I want to keep walking.
I’m into comfort in clothing and not the latest style. Style is a personal thing that I don’t see through the eyes of youth. Ironing clothes is a lost art and cotton wrinkles. I like polyester it doesn’t wrinkle. My birthday suit has wrinkles; I forgot to read the label.
I have recently rearranged my dish cupboard. I have consolidated my dishes and now paper plates, cups and bowls occupy half of the space. I plan on saving water, making my trash man’s job more secure, and doing my part in recycling paper.
Cooking was never my favorite thing. I fancy myself a good cook, but I only cook because I like to eat. I don’t care who cooks it so I eat out a lot.
I drive a dirty car. It’s not that I don’t like a clean car, but I don’t have a garage and it gets dirty fast. I don’t like to wash it. One of the perks of being ancient is that my neighbors sometime wash it for me. I love it. Unfortunately my outside cat loves it too and leaves muddy paw prints on the hood and roof.
I don’t do yard work and haven’t in recent years. As a youth I mowed lawns for money and feel it is only right that I repay society by now employing a gardener.
I worked years cleaning other people’s homes and apply the same reasoning for employing a lady to clean my house. I attribute lack of ambition in both of these areas to maturity and not just plain laziness.
I do the laundry when the hamper fills up or I run out of clean underwear. I have enough underwear for two weeks so that saves a lot of wear and tear on the laundry facilities.
My cat and I sleep together. She has trained me to sleep in the middle of the mattress while she occupies the corners. It took awhile to work out this arrangement and involved a few bites through the blankets followed by a few kicks, but we now have an acceptable understanding.
I see my dentist about every two years and don’t bother with that twice a year schedule thing. The only thing that would cause me to see him more often is a tooth ache and I haven’t had that in years. I floss and brush daily and don’t worry about staying kissing sweet.
I wear my hair short, cut my finger nails short and often find myself short on energy until someone says, “Let’s go”. That works better than a vitamin B shot.
I get my yearly physical every two years.
I have clutter on the floor around my recliner chair. It may include my lap top computer, appointment calendar, books and everything my cat has knocked off of the end table. I nap in my chair when I feel sleepy and no one cares. I love to paint pictures and write stories, but only when the spirit moves me.
I eat early in the evening and go to bed early, or late depending greatly upon the score of the Lakers basketball game. I don’t like to watch losers.
I hang up on people taking phone surveys and unsolicited phone calls. I don’t bother to be polite.
I love family and friends.
I admit I don’t understand Isaiah and have difficulty pronouncing bible name.
I can live with that. Life is good.