Old Man's Hands

I like "Birthdays are good for you..... The more you have, the longer you live"

guess I might have fewer wrinkles if I were overweight. My skin dries out Oct-Jan and I found that using petroleum jelly after showering helps a lot (as recommended by a doctor years ago). Sun block lotion, proper diet, and drinking plenty of liquid also helps. Unlike arthritis, wrinkles are only cosmetic.

At 60, I guess I'm used to wrinkles.. lol

My favorite definition of middle age, though it hits really close to home, is "getting out of a hot bath and being GLAD that the mirror is fogged up"...

mac

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In my case I like the fact that I wear bifocals. The bottom lens makes everything look bigger than it really is. I really appreciate that effect when I take a leak.

;-) Glen

hands look. They've had a tough time over the years due in large part to my various hobbies and avocations. Water skiing dries them out and builds up serious callouses, not to mention the sun abuse of my younger years. Countless auto repairs/ projects and home improvement tasks throughout my life and now woodworking.

Bottom line, my mother visited last week. She's 73 and her hands look younger than mine.

Oh well...

Tom M

I like that. Unfortunately, while I've got nose and ear hair, I've also still go most of my top litter, too. I heard one editor remark to another a few years ago that I wear a rug...he'd give a billiard ball pause to check its relatives. Hell, the hair is about the only thing my father left.

Tom...don't worry about your hands until Arthur takes his bite. IME, that is a lot worse than wrinkles and age spots.

Your not getting older, you're just entering your Metal Period, silver hair, gold teeth - and lead butt.

Though I have a birthday each year, I'm not concerned about the specific number of years I've been on the planet at any given date. As a result, I apparently celebrated two "turn 60" milestones, one when I was actually 59 and then the actual one. I use the term "celebrate" with "birthday" because the alternative is nothing to celebrate- game over - and the game is so interesting to continue to play.

I often point out to people I meet that are racing through life that the "finish line" is DEAD so they might want to slack off the pace a bit - and maybe savor the journey rather than rush to the destination.

I've got a T-shirt that says

It's not that life is so short but that your dead for so long.

charlie b

Well said, Charlie...

I gave my yuppie kid a t-shirt a few years back that said: "He who dies with the most toys, Still Dies"

mac

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When I'm not looking at my hands, they seem to work just fine. The fingernails pick up minor differences in size, the palms push, the fingers grip, the wrists bend. Some days they don't even hurt.

They won't lift what they once did ... the arms and back have aged, too. Injuries have taken their toll. And sometimes I find it impossible to get out of bed without help because my back won't cooperate. No hyperbole ... those are very long and depressing days.

But I know how to do things now that I didn't when I was a kid. I know how to forgive others ... and myself. (Usually) I know how to speak with my wife as she goes through this tough time in her life. I know what to do while I am waiting for something or someone. I know how to face fear and how to be strong for others when what I really need is something to lean on myself. I know how to deeply value both the simple things in life (perfectly cooked beans, the sounds of my wife sleeping, a straight and blemish-free edge on a board,the sounds of my granddaughter running and hopping -at age 1!- in the living room), and the time to savor them.

I have had arthritis since I was a kid. It isn't getting any better. Sometimes my fingers will lock in position for a moment. Most days my hands hurt. The cartilage is pretty much shot and soon the bones will begin to fuse in useless positions. So what? Others face far more daunting barriers and still manage to extract the joy from life. I can deal with arthritis. I'm just going to try to ensure that the forefingers lock up in an extended position so that I can still type. I can usually, with effort, stand upright. I can still hold a child and a cup of coffee and type on this newsgroup. Some days I can do a prodigious amount of work. Some days I can't. Some days, 55 years of skill pours from my fingers and things 'just work'! Other days they will barely grasp a fork. I've taken to using fatter pens. I make them and they look great ... but that's not why they are easier to grasp.

My mental prowess is slipping away, too. Others don't see it yet, but I can. I have a condition that requires me to make a choice between mental adroitness and being socially acceptable / completing tasks. I have consciously chosen mediocre achievement over brilliance without anything to show for it. I take medications whose sole purpose in life is to slow my thinking down. I've gone from a kid who once read a dictionary because it was interesting reading to an old man who sometimes has to abandon an idea for lack of a word.

Now THAT is poverty. And an incessantly humbling experience. But my wife loves me and I love her and if I am not going to snap at her constantly, this is the price I have to pay. Thinking considerably faster than other people is hard on them.

I built my garden in 2' tall boxes with room for a wheelchair between them. I am building a trellised patio this summer. I already have the grape vines started. When the time comes for me to look out the window and watch others, I want the view to be as pleasing as I can make it. When it comes time for me to sit in the shade and reflect on life's lessons, I want the shade to last all day and to be surrounded by teeming life.

I've already checked ... my wlan reaches the patio. I want to sit and listen to music off the internet while I try to pass on whatever I have found to be true and worth doing.

Yeah, my hands are wrinkly but, as was once said in a different context "Son, those ain't wrinkles ... they're service stripes."

;-)

Tom ... let me close with this quotation from the Bible.

(Ecclesiastes 9:4-10) 4 For as respects whoever is joined to all the living there exists confidence, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion. 5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. 7 Go, eat your food with rejoicing and drink your wine with a good heart, because already the [true] God has found pleasure in your works. 8 On every occasion let your garments prove to be white, and let oil not be lacking upon your head. 9 See life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity, for that is your portion in life and in your hard work with which you are working hard under the sun. 10 All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She?ol, the place to which you are going.

Bill

Good post (both you and TW). Ten years older and getting there faster. But ... just got back from playing a gig with the headliner at a street fair in Mid-America (Fulton, MO, a loooong way from Houston) and as long as these hands can continue to pound on both the bass and wood, though Pistol's sword may be somewhat sharper, the world's still an oyster.

Man did this thread get "heavy". I'm still waiting for To Be - or Not To Be? What was the question?

One of the many odd things about life is that by the time you've learned what works, what doesn't and how to do what works - you may not physically be able to apply what you've learned, or for that matter, remember it long enough to apply it - more than once.

Thankfully, for most people, living beats the alternative.

charlie b

Yes, it did. Some folks get too worried about growing old, others grow old gracefully.

Last weekend I took a few surprise hi-res photos of a friend I bumped into at a festival. I emailed the pics. She was horrified the picture showed every wrinkle, age spot, and hair on her nose and asked if I was trying to give her an inferiority complex.

IMHO, that gal has a problem.

Lew

My wife says that I'm "aging to perfection" In steaks, isn't that the stage before rot sets in?

I've been guilty of that.. lol

I think that we have 3 levels of self image....

The mental one that is usually 20 years out of date and gets us hurt when wee try sports or heavy lifting...

The one that we see in the mirror, that's almost accurate, but still effected by our mental image

The one brought screaming home when you see a picture of yourself, because it's usually the "real you"...

Who's that fat guy with the bald head?? Oh s*it, it's ME! lol

Trying to drag this a bit on-topic, I took a 20 year leave of absence from woodworking because I was just unhappy with most things that I made.. When I sort of re-entered the game, I found that I have much more patience and self confidence now and am really enjoying my time in the shop..

Instead of skipping a step or not letting glue really set well because I was in a hurry to get it done, I now have the patience and hmm.. maybe self control to stop myself from hurrying or skipping steps and just enjoying the process..

Have to wait for glue to dry or for the store to open because I want to use the correct screw or whatever? Now, I just put a chunk of wood on the lathe or head for the cantina for a while... *g*

mac

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Oh please forgive me, Glen, but when I get to the age that I leak, go ahead and put me in a set of Depends.

Mom always used to say, " I know those Itis boys and Arthur is the worst of them."

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

Heh. Not too long ago, I located the "yearbook" for my Parris Island platoon. This was shortly after deciding which ugly picture to post on my web site. I check out the few shots of me in the book: in one, I wasn't recognizable, but I remember the sport jacket, because my Mom dragged me down to Delancy St. to buy it. In the other, I was all Adam's apple and ears with that Marine Corps cap sitting way up on my well peeled head.

I then picked out the first "new" shot of the correct size and stuck it on my web site.

Ugly then, ugly now. A different ugly, but still ugly, so to hell with it. There are real things to worry about in this world.

I haven't had any real problems with arty so far, but a lot of regrets about too many fights, using my hands to pound on things instead of using a rubber mallet, etc..

I find myself doing quite a few "work around's" such as bigger handles on tools, cam locks instead of thumb screws, etc...

Like Chuck Yeager said, as you get older, "don't give up, give in"...

Along with hands, eyes change a lot too... I have to really light the shop now... probably would blind a 20 year old or force them to wear shades.. lol

mac

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I am 52 and when my dad died in '02, I inherited is masonic ring with a nice diamond in it. I wear it occassionally, and on one trip to my sister's house, we were sitting at the table talking, and she looked at my hand and said, "that looks like daddy's hand!!!"

I had not realized it, but she was right. I have my father's hands....

Tom Wats> Ya know Lew, I sorta like them, now that I've gotten a little used to > looking at them.