My get-up-and-go has got up and went.
I’ve spent too much time of late trying to figure out why.
Most obvious, I’m not a kid anymore, but this feeling is a recent event. I need to get up and go before it is too late.
I’ve been a member of the Superior-Douglas County YMCA since it was built in 1973. Before that, I was a member at other YMCAs, such as Mankato, Minn., for many years. I spent a lot of time in YMCAs. I played handball until I was 80 and since have spent many hours in the fitness center trying to stay fit, but …
My get up and go has got up and went.
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This has been a most recent event .
As I taxed my remaining brain cells, time after time, for assistance, I Googled for help and there I found an anonymously written poem that said it better than I could. So I copied the following thinking the old folks who read this aging column, like the writer, can appreciate it:
Old age is golden, or so I’ve heard said,
But sometimes I wonder, as I crawl in to bed,
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up.
As sleep dims my vision, I say to myself:
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
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But, though nations are warring and Congress is vexed,
We’ll stick around to see what happens next:
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get-up and go has got up and went,
But in spite of it all, I’m able to grin
And think of the places my get up has been.
I get up each morning and dust off my wits,
Open the paper, and read the obits.
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If I’m not there, I know I’m not dead,
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.
The older readers, like me, will find that some of that plays out in old fogies like us. Is it too late or is there some magic wand or potion that would help us recoup?
Google had a comment that in the news media someone thought it was a St. Louis newsman that had written it, but he never would admit it.
Bernie Hughes, Ed.D, is a retired educator who resides in Superior. He can be reached at bernie3024@gmail.com .
