It's Not Easy Being Green When You're Gray

I must face the facts: I am getting old. I used to consider most people I  saw as "about my age." Reality is that we baby boomers are aging and dying off.

I wrote down a note someone said at A.A. not long ago: When you're ripe, you rot. When you're green, you grow. The trick is to see myself as green and growing. I am too healthy to turn ripe and rot.

I met with an orthopaedic doctor yesterday. My knees have been bad for a long time, likely from running all those marathons and other races. He said my right knee, which had arthroscopic surgery 15 years ago to remove damaged cartilage, was rubbing bone on bone. He couldn't understand how I could possibly still be running on it. My other knee has been sore because of a calcium deposit. He gave me a shot of cortisone in each knee and told me I never should run again.

I won't follow that order if I am away from home and away from my low-impact exercise equipment. Being unable to run without pain was one of the factors that led me to abuse alcohol.

If I return to a regime of running and drinking, I will become ripe fruit about to rot. I'm not rotten fruit! God isn't finished with me. So with my green, sober life, I can continue to grow in other ways. This life of mine keeps getting better.