Keeping tabs

 As I age I keep an eye on my surroundings to see how I am doing relative to others in my community.  There are number of these septuagenarians that I see walking about at all times of the day near my house.

Some are regular as clockwork.  Some walk alone while some with what I would assume is their significant other.  These appear to be of Indian heritage and hence the implied assumption that the said significance arises out of prior matrimony.

They walk together or few feet apart with the patriarch normally 20 yards ahead and the spouse trying to catch up.  Nonetheless they show a briskness to their business of perambulating.  Their routine constitutional is a must.

With the California wildfires there was ash in the air.  But some persisted.  With the covid hanging out with prior dibs on the atmosphere there was a requirement to don masks anyway.  So some came out regardless and kept walking.

I for one am noticing the certain degradation of performance in my own movements.  What used to be relatively easy stroll for a few miles is now hampered by sciatic or similar aches.  Aches from organs I did not know I had.

Really?  That part can hurt?  Hmm.

Sometimes ibuprofen is the way to go.  Sometimes I forget to take it.  So off I go heading out with all the preparations to navigate the streets for an hour and 15 minutes in realize that the lower vertebrae seem to want to detach from the spine and take a siesta.  What!

Slow down monkey says the brain.  But the limbs are still processing the message which I am sure is taking longer to reach what with the general malaise clogging the information network.  Eventually at minute 22 my limbs start to realize that indeed further movement might be unwise.

And so I decide to find a perch. Chill a bit.  Decide if the entire anatomy is back in sync before taking the next step.  Meanwhile here they go again.  Just saw this fixture - a couple drag themselves next to me and continue onward mumbling something in a south Indian language that I cannot decipher.

But their pace is indicative of a much robust physiology than mine and I almost feel like interrupting them and asking - what do you do and what do you eat?

Likely they will confirm my suspicion - we do not and have not stared at glass screens ever in our lives, eaten foods that we did not recognize and have never sat in a chair for hours on end; and have likely spent hours hanging with other humans from our village or community discussing nothing in particular.  

So if that is the trade off I need to go think about it some more.  Perhaps there is another option.  Perhaps it is not too late.

Also I must remind myself to keep my tabs on me next time I step out.  The Advil that is.