Growing Older

A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a man that was found behind a Burger King, somewhere in the US, badly beaten without any ID. He was taken to a hospital where he recovered. He did need some surgery prior to regaining his vision, but it's several months later and he has no memory of his past or identity.

He said that it was a couple of weeks before he saw himself in a mirror due to the eye surgery, and he was surprised that he appeared to be in his 50s. He said he felt and thought he was in his 20s. That really has stuck in my mind, and I keep rolling it around. Imagine that for a minute... you don't have your vision and you have no idea how old you are. How old do you feel? Your eyes could not see the the fine lines, the gray hairs, the age spots and the things that aren't so perky anymore.

I've often said that I still feel 18, but as I turn 44 today, I think I should up that to 25. I know much more about life now than I did then, but if I had no memory of prior experiences, would I have the additional common sense that I've gained over the years? I expect that I would realize that my sleep habits had changed since I was young; I can't stay up until midnight partying and sleep until noon anymore. But if I couldn't remember that I did that, would I realize that was a sign of middle age?

I think that our bodies, the vessels that hold our mind, spirit and personality, betray us by prematurely aging. We feel young, but we don't look young anymore, and we can't do what we did when we were young. I think that if we didn't give a number to our ages... if we didn't celebrate our birthdays, we'd all live longer. Maybe we'd feel younger if we didn't do the math, and didn't look in mirrors.

I see that Pipsqueak put 15 candles on my cake. If I was blind AND deaf, I wouldn't believe I was THAT young.