It's not the Years - It's the Miles!

I’ll be 48 in 22 days.  When I wrote that sentence, I was going to be witty and say “I’d much rather be 22 in 48 days.”  Yet that simply wouldn’t be true.  I’m not one of those women who worries about aging, I’m more than happy where I am in life, I don’t need injections of botox, implants or facial lifts to aid my sense of self esteem.  Yes, I’ll admit that it’s getting harder to lose weight and the southerly migration of my butt and boobs makes me a tad self conscious in a bathing suit, but luckily I live in Canada and spend more time in sweaters and jeans, that can hide a multiple of sins.

To be honest, the only thing I’d like to have back from my 20s, are my knees (oh, I’d love my big hair back, because when I was in my 20s, it was the 80s … actually see me on a humid day and my big hair is back).

Sometime around the turn of this century (was that only 10 years ago?), a quasi rap song by Baz Lurhrman called Everybody’s Free (to wear Sunscreen), received some popularity on the airwaves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

The words came from a journalist called Mary Schmich (they were incorrectly attributed to Kurt Vonnegut), they were the kind of inspirational message that gets flashed around in cyberspace, you know that email that your friend sends to a bunch of friends and then they forward it on …

If you’re interested, catch the version on youtube.  If you’re young you probably won’t get it, if you’re my age, you got it long ago.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded.

But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked

I’ve battled, with varying degrees of success, my weight, for as long as I can remember.  I’ve made peace with the issue now, living a life of eating (somewhat) healthily and getting exercise (hockey’s a big help), but more exercise would be a bigger help.  I look back of pictures of me when I’m young and realize I was beautiful, and no, I wasn’t overweight the way I thought I was.

The best line from the song is this one;

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone

I miss my knees.  The knees that played basketball, both in high school and university.  The knees that lunged for the ball playing squash.  The knees that played volleyball, baseball, curling and even took me parachuting.  The knees that backpacked across Europe.  The knees that have skied down hills and cross country.  The knees that completed an Olympic distance Triathlon.  The knees that walked my mother down the aisle after 21 years of widowhood.  The knees I’ve prayed upon.  The knees that take me up and down the ice with varying degrees of stabiltiy and grace.

I take two Glucosamine/Chondrotin tablets a day.  Before I play hockey I take two aspirins.  When I play hockey one knee is enveloped and supported in a brace.  After hockey I take a few medicinal adult beverages, and then I’ll take two arthritic aspirins, apply Voltaren, elevate and support my knees with a pillow and attempt to sleep.  Usually I’ll wake up because of the pain (sometimes it’s because of too many adult beverages).  I’ll repeat the aspirins and Voltaren (sometimes I repeat the adult beverages).

Right now I’m playing hockey three times a week between leagues and shinny.  Right now I’m in a lot of pain.  The other night in my co-ed game, I was hit by the puck on the inside of my thigh, right where there’s only the zipper and no padding.  I have a lovely bruise; it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as my knees.

I’m going to keep on playing hockey, and I have no plans of quitting.  I think I’ve got a few more miles in my knees.  I know I have a few more adult beverages in the fridge