My old age has caused me to battle with a concern that I never thought about as I bought my “lunch” from the gas station every morning consisting of candy, chips and drank. You cannot get older without thinking about getting old and your health, that once was snap back, deteriorating. Because of how life is and because God has jokes, my new concern has presented itself in different forms over the past couple of weeks.
I go to pick up my youngest from my dad one day and the once vibrant older but still handsome and active guy that I think some of my friends would holla at if they didn’t know me, cannot hear what I am saying without screaming it twice. He does not like to wear his hearing aid because it hurts but I am saddened by the fact that he has to. Then I start thinking that I shouldn’t be bothered by this because he still has everything else going on; the ears were the first and hopefully the last to go.
I create my menu for the week and notice that 4 days out of 7 are with fried food entries. Now before I turned 30, I would be like and, what? I am a working wife and mother. I don’t have time for baking and roasting. Now as I seasoned the chicken with all its fattened skin glory, I thought about all the grease I eat on a daily basis and how now, not only is it messing up my “make the hubby look twice and turn back around and look again gear”, but this stuff could be clogging up my arteries as well. Who worries about arteries? Old people.
Then I get on FB, my number one distracter, and the first posting I see is about being natural and taking care of yourself. I probably needed to see this two weeks ago when I thought this acne on my face was my once a month visitor that would go away in a week. When it did not and as I type this, I can no longer rub my hand smoothly across my forehead, I think I may need to get serious about my health.
I really want to exercise more because to be as real as I can, my diet is just that. I will die if I cannot have it. To be honest, my only reasons for not exercising are really shallow; I don’t want to sweat out my hair and I can’t find the right workout gear.
People assume because I look this good after having four kids (yes I said it; it’s the truth) I am so in shape. As I say thanks, I am thinking if you only knew all of the bad habits I partake in.
I am determined though to attempt to get my health together because I want to see my grandchildren and because my dad and I have a bet going on; he says he will outlive me. I also want to grow old with my husband and travel the world without getting winded and appear in that “Can you guess how old she is?” issue of Essence Magazine when I am 85. I want to be known as an ELF (elderly I’d like to… ) and if I have to stop eating ice cream at midnight to do it, so be it; I will eat it at 11.
