The saying has been credited to everyone from Willie Nelson to the late Paul Neuman to the late Betty Davis. While I would like to believe that a person can let their guard down as they move into retirement it is not always the case.

What happens? For some it was coming off the corporate tread mill and finally having more than 10 minutes for breakfast and coffee…maybe even time enough for a quick skim of the newspaper. For others it is a time when the decision has been made that I am gonna take it easy, no matter what. But like the best laid plans of mice and men, the dream sometimes misses. Boredom, blood pressure and patience begin to weight you down and the next thing, “Old Age” begins slowing you down.

My old age began about 9 years ago when I had triple by-pass surgery followed in three years by three stents. I had already been diagnosed with COPD, so felt I had survived the worst of it and was still a man in my 50’s. Retirement came years later following a few trips to the hospital for Mycoplasma Pneumonia. If you are not familiar, these are are germs that reside in the lungs and are neither bacterial or viruses. They serve as a reminder that even when we are feeling well, something in the system can be working against you.

Feeling that we had the world by the tail, we retired and moved south. Bought a beautiful home (still getting some fix up attention) and thought this is going to be GREAT! Beautiful home, lovely wife, great weather…what more could one ask for? New Years Eve morning with a little ice on the patio and when letting the dog in, a slip, a fall, a broken hip! Now I am old enough to know pain, but this really, really hurt and so for the next three days I stayed inside…the hospital that is. There have been some other ailments, but the point of this isn’t me, it is about getting older, feeling like you have life under control and then crumbling.

We all have friends that have been healthy their entire life…until they retire and decide to have some fun and bang. Several of us in the over 60 crowd have talked about what we should have done to sneak up on old age, however those conversations don’t last as long as they should because none of us want to admit that we have reached “OLD AGE.”

When I first heard the saying “Old Age Ain’t For Sissies” I laughed. Now when I say it, I feel it is a statement of truth. Don’t take old age for granted because it can get you!

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