I will never be at this age again

With a couple of months under my belt being age 70, Pierini Fitness finds himself a little more reflective than in years past.  I suppose it’s only natural as the clock tick tocks towards the end of my life.  Not that I’m obsessed that my life will end soon or suddenly, one never knows, but rather just acknowledging that I’ve lived more life than the life I have left to live.  If that’s not an eye-opener, I don’t know what is.

It's also a healthy reminder for me to get busy living my life to the fullest.  The mañana mantra or playbook no longer serves me well as it did when I was a young’un. 

Someone recently shared on a fitness discussion forum I sometimes frequent that his grandfather’s last words were “It's just yesterday, I was a boy".  Isn’t this so true and a good reminder that I have so many things to do and so little time to do them.  At some point, like I’ve jokingly questioned my mother, I’ve asked myself, “Are your suitcases packed?”

Blah, blah, blah, I could go on forever with idioms, similes, figures of speech and the like, in a circular loop like a dog chasing his tail, as I ponder the rest of my life, but one thing is true and that’s I will never be at this age again.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

How long will this last?

Now is the time for Pierini Fitness to acknowledge that he's grateful for his upper-percentile and age-adjusted cardiovascular conditioning and strength endurance. These blessings aren’t automatic, though, because it takes dedicated fitness training but the fact that I’m able to slip into my workout clothes, lace up my training shoes and show up are also reasons to be grateful. 

 

Obviously, it won’t always be this way.  As my gracefully aging clock ticks toward the end of my life, at some point my eventual fitness erosion will start to show its ugly head.  There may also be later-in-life health issues I’ll experience that could very well be a game changer for me, bringing an end or a downsizing of the fitness training stuff I’ve been able to do thus far. 

 

Visting my 93-year-old Mom recently in the hospital was a stark reminder that I’m going to get my turn one day. The turn I'll get will likely be different than hers, but nonetheless it’s a turn for which I'm preparing.    

 

When will my day come when I’m no longer able to pull myself up and down on a pull-up bar, or dip myself down and up on my bar dips equipment?  What about the day when I’ll no longer be able to swing my kettlebells like I now do, or do one hundred burpees and have younger people marvel that I can?  Only God knows and He’s not telling me! While I don’t spend a lot of time pondering these questions, today I did, and this is the theme of today’s Pierini Fitness reflection.

  

I recently viewed a video of a fit 72-year-old man who shared that he doesn’t think about how old he is.  Do I?  Generally, I don't but my recent turning age 70 gave me cause for acknowledging I'm an old man rather than a middle-aged man, and has made me think about how old I am. I also recently started collecting my Social Security benefits and know that I need to live to my early 80’s to “break even” in collecting the amount I could have had I started collecting a lesser amount four years earlier at my full retirement age. 

 

Yes, all this makes me ask myself, “How long will this last?” 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum 

That no longer exists?

I recently read something on the internet, but I can’t remember where.  It asked the question “Do you ever get homesick for a place that no longer exists?”  Not much to my surprise, the rhetorical question became firmly embedded in my mind’s eye where it has remained ever since.

Pierini Fitness is a reflective guy, so the question allowed my reflective being to thrive in full throttle.  Here are some of my rambling reflections when thinking about this question:

Watching the “Adventures of Superman” on our black and white television set, knowing that I would was a sure bet.

Playing outdoors with friends, and riding my bicycle here and there, never afraid that bad people would surface and give me a scare.

Swimming at the YMCA after school and jumping off the high dive, were healthy activities making my boyhood thrive,

Going to the Memorial Auditorium to watch Big Time Wrestling matches cheering for the good guys, and booing the bad guys,

Working after school and summer jobs to save for my first car, then depositing my earnings in the bank and not a cookie jar,

Joining the Army, surviving boot camp and making friends from everywhere, and being confident as a young man to accept a dare.

Meeting my future wife and dancing with her on a warm summer night, knowing she would be my bride, not anyone else in sight.

Becoming a father to a daughter and then a son and discovering that it was a lot of fun.

Starting my career in a profession that’s challenging and rewarding, forty years later it’s only a memory that surfaces when I’m sleeping, 

Family vacations to Europe with my wife and children, all excited as can be, with our eyes wide open, there was so much to see.

Now an old man, I’m living new experiences that’ll one day be dear, but will they be as good as the ones from yesteryear.

So, my answer is yes to the question, “Do I ever get homesick for a place that no longer exists?”

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum