“Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.”

-Terry Pratchett

I often say that I still do all the same things I’ve always done…I’m just worse at them and I hurt more afterwards!

The reality is that if you’re in your physical prime as you approach 40, you were REALLY squandering your 20s. However, if you don’t COMPLETELY fall apart physically, you can earn the title, “Pretty Good For An Old Guy” which is sort of like earning the Brown Ribbon during Elementary School Field Day or the Most Improved Award for the 5th year in a row.

“Winning” in pickup basketball becomes more about not tearing an Achilles rather than actually defeating your opponents…particularly when your opponents are 6’6” High School kids who stare at you blankly when you emphasize the importance of a full 20-minute warm-up prior to playing 2-on-2. Actually, I think they just stare at you blankly regardless, but I sure do miss the days when you could roll out of bed and start dunking volleyballs (Small Hands Club here), go eat a couple Hot Pockets, and then run 10 miles with zero gastrointestinal distress.

And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sometimes discouraged about the growing disconnect between my brain and body. David Gibson nails it in his book Living Life Backward, saying, “Growing old makes a body and an inner self part company, as one ages and the other stays young.”

Age is a formidable foe, and Death, at least from a physical sense, remains undefeated. And yet, we can remain hopeful even as we grow older. James Russell Miller encourages us with the following words when addressing the issue of how to ensure aging is bright and beautiful rather than dark and depressing:

“We must live a useful life. Nothing good ever comes out of idleness or out of selfishness. The standing water stagnates and breeds decay and death. It is the running stream that keeps pure and sweet. The fruit of an idle life is never joy and peace. Years lived selfishly never become garden-spots in the field of memory. Happiness comes out of self-denial for the good of others. Sweet always are the memories of good deeds done and sacrifices made. When one has lived to bless others, one has many grateful, loving friends whose affection proves a wondrous source of joy when the days of feebleness come.”

And if some of those friends happen to be towering High School athletes, then hopefully they’ll still let me play pickup basketball with them even as my days grow progressively more feeble