There are more and more things I can’t do comfortably. I love being eye-level with kids on the floor but I’m finding it more and more difficult. This became painfully clear the day my great grandson and his family were visiting.
I got down on the floor to help him put together a dinosaur puzzle. Getting to the floor was fine, but then how was I supposed to get comfortable once there? My legs didn’t want to sit cross-legged, but when I stretched them out in front of my body, keeping my torso upright was awkward.
Issues related to aging have been popping up more and more frequently since I turned seventy-nine. To help me understand what’s happening, I’m reading Joyce Rupp’s Vessels of Love, a book of prayers and poems for people later in life. It was surprising to me how many times she mentions the speed of change in our later years.
I’m used to thinking that things change rapidly when we are children. My great grandson changes significantly every time I see him, becoming taller, more interactive and talking more.
Joyce Rupp’s writing how elders face constant change helps me realize my three year old great grandson and I have a lot in common. The two of us are in life cycle stages where changes happen rapidly. He grows stronger and more mobile every day, while I fight to keep muscle mass and fuss with balance and mobility challenges. He learns new words and concepts, while I struggle to express a word that’s on the tip of my tongue or remember why I came into a room.
Being a great grandmother is a complex and rich experience because it not only directs my awareness at the marvel that is my great grandson and his toddlerdom, but it also heightens my awareness of the aging process I’m exploring every day.
There are even more things we have in common. During the visit, I wanted to be engaged with people and participate in all the Christmas festivities. But I observed that both of us got tired after a couple of hours and felt like we’d had enough. We needed our naps.
I’m noticing when I pay attention to the aging process, it feels like coming full circle. I now have more in common with my three year old great grandson than I do with his competent thirty-something mother. I’m learning that the aging process consists of, as Rupp writes, “steady change and continual adjustment.”
What raises your awareness of changes you are going through?
IMAGE: Ed, the computer tech here to help with Dropbox photos, offered to straighten up the image accompanying this post. I said I liked the angle. He said tha itt would drive him crazy. I hope you agree with me that a certain sense of freedom is shown in this rendition of closing out 2024.
