|
Old age in not as unkind as you might
think.
Daily exercise consists of about twenty
derelicts, such as myself, sitting in a circle, while a physiotherapist,
with a voice to wake the dead, screams enunciating every syllable:
"Now you throw it to me, Miss-iss
Dim-wit! Come on . . .THROW THE BALL!"
"Now you Mis-ter Szewc, throw it
to me, NO, TO MEEE, Mis-ter Szewc. NO, NOT at Sis-ter Ce-cil-ia.
TO MEEE MIS-TER SZEWC! MIS-TER SHEWC!!!"
Every syllable.
The man's name sounded like Mr. Sheftz,
which is Polish for cobbler. He may have been a good shoe mender
but he sure was a cobbler at throwing the ball which was large
and light. And unwieldy. Perhaps that was the objective. To make
us try harder.
I never remembered her name. The Physio
screamed too loud and also she did all the talking. She did it
out of kindness, of course. Not everyone enjoyed half-decent
hearing. Half-decent was as good as you could hope for on the
second floor. The third floor was worse. That was the Alzheimer's
floor. That's where Jan and I used to be. Now, I belonged to
the younger generation. Those under ninety-five. I came down,
Jan went even higher.
Exercises were all conducted sitting
down. I, like apparently all the other residents of the second
floor, found it progressively more difficult to get around. I
still walked on my own, with just my cane for company. But when
it came to climbing the eight steps at Steve's condo, I needed
the taxi driver's assistance. Going down was even worse. Steve
held on to my right elbow, Annette to the other. It was a question
of supporting my whole weight on just one leg at a time. Strength,
like memory, is the first to go. I think we are designed to last
so many years, and then, if we outstay our welcome, we are left
on our own. By nature and, yes, by God. God says come °©
we say not yet. A while longer, we say. What does God know about
such things? He's immortal. He has no concept of time. He may
be omniscient but with Him it's all theory. To make sure God
cannot take us against our will we stuff ourselves with pills,
chemicals, support ourselves with walkers, propel ourselves in
wheelchairs. And then we surround ourselves with staff who do
everything for us. By then it's too late to listen to God's call.
By then, we'd have lost all our reasoning power.
(cont. in the
book)
|