Category: Aging

Tuesday, July 28, 2026 Forgetting How to Walk

~ Foodiness ~ 4 Comments

I have to admit that I did not see this coming when I had total knee replacement surgery: I have, apparently, forgotten how to walk. I noticed it as I started walking again when the knee was stronger. My gait felt awkward and my opposite hip hurt. I chalked it up to adjusting to the new knee. A thought surfaced: what if this is the new normal? I prayed about it and tucked it away.

Whate’er my God ordains is right
His holy will abideth

When you take a walk, you don’t usually think about the action of walking, anymore than you think about breathing. Your legs know what to do and everything else follows. It’s like riding a bike, right? You are in automatic mode and are free to converse, think, look around, take photos. But now I was analyzing every step. Heel, toe, heel toe…that’s right. But that inside pain on the upper right thigh – did I pull a muscle? And the pain on the outside of the hip? What’s that about? My six-month post-surgery appointment was coming up.

I will be still whate’er He does
And follow where He guideth

The Physician’s Assistant gave me a glowing report concerning my knee: everything is healing up as it should and the bend is excellent. You wouldn’t think you could be proud of being able to bend your knee well, but think again. Now, how about this hip pain when I walk? She asked a few questions, did some manipulations and said, “Well, sometimes this can be just an adjustment to walking with a good knee again as you unlearn the way you were compensating for the bad knee before.” Yay! “But in your case, I think it looks more like hip arthritis, which might not be helped by therapy. Good news, though – a hip replacement surgery is much easier to recover from than knee replacement surgery!” Oh. “Let’s set up another appointment in a month just in case the therapy hasn’t helped and we want to look at some options.” All righty then!

He is my God, though dark my road
He holds me that I shall not fall

I gave birth to twins many years ago, an emergency C-section at 33 weeks. Twin blessings! But the delivery was filled with tension and the recovery was difficult. Our oldest son, who was five years old, was so thrilled with having twin brothers that he suggested that I should have triplets next. You see where I’m going here. I was not prepared to start thinking about another replacement surgery in the middle of recovering from the knee surgery. But as I was grappling with this new and unwelcome vista before me, the words of a hymn came floating into my head “Whate’er my God ordains is right.” Oh, my friends, it makes all the difference in the world to leave it all to Him who knows and loves me best. He is the perfect Father; I have complete confidence that His plan, whatever it is, is for my good and His glory.

And so to Him, I leave it all
And so to Him, I leave it all

I’ll probably heel/toe this post to the delete button in the morning.

Friday, June 19, 2026 What Do You See?

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Note: I wrote this post for my previous blog, “Further Up and Further In” back in 2012. My father passed away in 2013. I reprint this in honor of his memory for Father’s Day.

What do you see? Do you see an old man? Of course you do, for that is what he is, an old man nearing the end of his journey. He sleeps most of the time, rarely talks, doesn’t remember much. And that, if you don’t know him, is all you can see when you look at these photographs. That is the limitation of photography and, in fact, a limitation of our eyes. We can only capture what is visible in that moment in time; we don’t see the broad spectrum of what makes that person who he is; we don’t see the rich and varied history of his life.

You see an old man. I see my father. You see white hair, age spots and wrinkles. I see the gentle, good-humored, kind and dependable man who helped raise me. You see his current uselessness, while I see a gymnast, a musician, a band teacher, a fisherman, a handyman, a fellow who worked hard, dressed like Mister Rogers and was lovingly faithful to his wife. You see a man who no longer interacts with his world; I see someone who read to his children, took them on endless camping trips, went swimming with them often every summer, told funny stories, whose knees creaked as he came running up the stairs at night saying, “you kids settle down up there!” and who much later quietly grieved the loss of his oldest daughter. And even what I see isn’t all there is to the man. Think what his wife and parents could tell, what they could add to our understanding of his life. Yet with all of that, our picture still isn’t complete, for only God knows the deepest parts of a man’s soul.

What do you see? What can any of us really see? Pray that the God Who Really Sees would open our eyes and give us compassion for those who can no longer tell us who they are.

Me in my Dad’s lap.
Leslie, who died in 1987, is also in the photo.

I love you and miss you, Dad!

Will I delete this in the morning? I didn’t last time, apparently.

Thursday, January 8, 2026 Poem for David B

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My brother achieved 70 years recently, so naturally a poem had to be written in honor of this grand event.

That’s him on the left and me on the right
when we were young and splashy

Seventy years hath David B.
“I don’t feel very old,” said he.
“Speak for yourself,” opined one knee,
While his back groaned, saying “Golly gee!”

David objected, “I feel quite spry.”
His neck interjected, “That’s a lie!”
His bones just creaked with a little sigh,
And his brain took a break, saying “no reply.”

But David persisted, “I’m fit as a fiddle!”
His ears said, “What? Did he said ‘riddle?’”
“No rich food,” said his tummy in the middle,
(“But chocolate’s okay, if it’s just a little.”)

“I guess I’m getting on in years,”
Old David said, now switching gears.
“But full speed ahead! No time for tears.”
And the crowd around him gave three cheers.

So three cheers for David B!
(In three years, that will be me!)

Did you know that this post is getting on in years? Time to delete!

Monday, December 8, 2025 Olio

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The word “olio” comes up surprisingly often in crossword puzzles. It means “a miscellaneous collection of things,” or “hodgepodge.” Let that inform you as to the nature of what follows.

Sunsets, sunrises…I still run out in my slippers to capture them.

Pastels overlaid with the rough darkness of trees. Never gets old.

I thought this flower had a definite celebratory look to it. Or perhaps a head of disorganized hair. Don’t you love how it lights up the photo? I do!

I’ll tell you, old age is severe upon the plant world. These were beautiful in their prime. Still, they put on a very interesting farewell, unashamed of their desiccated state. The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the named of the Lord.

Obviously, these were all taken before the change of seasons, before frost, cold and snow scrubbed away the green and gold of autumn.

To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born,
and a time to die,
A time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

And a time to delete this…in the morning.

April 16, 2018 Going to Seed

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I feel a bond of fellowship with this cattail, which barely resembles what it was in the bloom of its youth. No longer sleek and thin, it has become rather bulgy and seems to have really let itself go. This sort of “going to seed” happens to us all, whether we like it or not. It’s called “aging,” and our culture spends a great deal of time, energy and money in an effort to thwart it, or at least disguise it. Somehow, what should be viewed as a triumph is seen as tragedy. What do you think is going on here, anyway? The whole point of this fluffy expansion is to disperse seed, and if that isn’t a jolly bit of business worthy of some disfigurement, I don’t know what is. So here I am – I’ve already cast my seed into the world (six of them!) and by golly, I’m going to welcome these fluffy years (sounds better than the empty nest, doesn’t it?). Bring it on.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.