When Did That Happen?

When Did That Happen?

I woke one morning and I realized I was young. Yep, it happened just that fast. I remember being young, holding down a (more than) full time job, single mom, keeping home clean, meals cooked with energy left over for church, play, and socializing. I worked with and had people working for me that were younger than I...most people were older.

And then it happened! All of a sudden, like I said, I woke up and all that had changed. It seemed like most people were younger than I. I couldn't physically do most of the things I had been doing...I can't work even part-time, I can't keep my home clean, cooking every night is a struggle and getting ready to go anywhere drains me. What is going on? I looked in the mirror and no longer saw a young woman but a middle age one. I don't remember it happening gradually...it just happened and I don't like it one bit.

I don't mind growing older...I do mind growing old! I can't play hop scotch, I can't skip, I can't do jumping jacks...when I run, I look like a hippopotamus...it ain't a pretty sight!

It's inevitable...it will happen to most of us. But why so quickly? Why so unkindly? I wish I had known this many years ago. I would have prepared myself better.

It is so sad to me the way society views and treats the elderly. Now I am not considered elderly, although I often feel like I am. It seems as if we, in the United States, discard our elderly. Put them in the nursing home, out of sight...out of mind.

• Mood: lonely