Last week I was temporarily incapacitated. I picked my two year-old up in typical mom fashion, swing up and then plant her on my hip. As I went to place her down on her feet a sharp pain shot up the center of my back. Now, I'm no stranger to back pain. I used to have mild back issues when I was a dancer. Ten years of ballet and dancing on pointe can certainly put your body out of whack if you don't take care of it. I would occasionally visit the chiropractor to get readjusted but for the most part I would do some stretches and then everything would be fine.
After my oldest daughter was born I traded the pointe shoes for toddler pick-ups. I remember carrying my daughter quite a bit when she was younger. There were even times when we would go hiking and when she got too tired I would carry her on my back. I don't recommend that but I was twenty-something at the time and I thought I was invincible. Now at 34, picking up a thirty pound toddler day after day can be exhausting.
The first time I had a back spasm I was kind of shocked. I thought about those television sitcoms when the dad would bend down to pick something up and his back would go out. The audience would laugh as he would hobble to the couch where he would be parked until someone did some crazy back cracking technique. The dad would smile, do a couple of stretches and everything would go back to normal. Suddenly I could identify with those sitcom dads.
This recent spasm left me walking kind of like Herman Munster, unable to use my full range of motion. I tried cracking my back and stretching it, but that didn't help. As the day went on I could feel the muscle get tighter and tighter. Before I went to bed I put the heating pad on and took a couple of aspirin to relieve the pain. The next day the pain was gone but the tightness was still there. Was this going to be a regular occurrence until my daughter no longer wanted "bups" (that's pick me up in her toddler language)?
As I ran around completing various errands the next day the thought occurred to me that no matter how healthy I am, age still manages to creep up. Being a parent to a two year-old at 22 versus 34 makes that fact very apparent. I certainly don't feel old but I DO notice some slight changes. At 22, holding a two year-old and going up and down a flight of stairs (while annoying) didn't have me as winded as it does now. When I take my youngest daughter to the park, I'm not as fast as I used to be when it comes to chasing her on the playground.
My mother is always saying that age is just a number and a state of mind. She doesn't feel "old" and refuses to think of herself as such. I don't think of her as old either, but as I was regaling her with my latest hunchback story she chucked and lovingly told me, "Welcome to the club". Now that she's retired she spends more time in her garden, getting lost in the plants and flowers that have always given her solace. Lately, however, her recovery time is longer and her back is giving her more problems. Despite her vibrant nature, time is slowing her down a bit.
Being a runner who also cross trains I figured that my body would naturally slow down the aging clock. As long as I exercise, eat right and drink lots of water I would feel fewer pangs of getting older. But the truth of the matter is that my body is aging and lately there have been times where I can tell. I don't jump right out of bed in the morning like I did in my twenties. My balance is not as good as it used to be. If I leave something upstairs, I'm less likely to run up and go get it. It can wait.
As my wife says, "Thirty isn't the new twenty, it's thirty." Thirty isn't old but it is older than twenty. I run to be healthy and fit and to try and keep up with my kids. I run because I LOVE it and it brings me happiness. But I am not running to try and reverse the aging process. I don't want to be twenty again, it was fun but I like thirty much better. And by the way things look, forty is going to be pretty awesome. So even though I live in a culture that is obsessed with staying young forever, I kind of welcome getting older.
Age is nothing but a number... I just have to tell my body that.
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