Getting old

There's no nice way to say it, because anyway you say it, it still sounds bad. "Getting old". It's not something we look forward to, but eventually it happens. There are a number of things you can do to slow it down, but you can't stop it. It is inevitable. I'm sure there are some good things to say about getting old, but I can't think of any right now.

When I was young I used to worry about my car being ready for the weekend, washed, waxed, tuned and ready to go where ever. Now I look at my truck and say, what's another week or two it's not that dirty, Were not going anywhere anyway and if we do, we can go in the old lady's car.

As far as dressing up goes, forget it, tennis shoes, t-shirt and levis and I'm ready, too bad my wife doesn't agree though. She likes to see me all dressed up when we go somewhere. There was a time when I was young when I used to dress up, of course I was in the Army in Europe at the time. Now I just like to be comfortable. I would wear levis and a t-shirt if I was invited to visit the president of the United States, of course my wife and kids would disown me. For me getting dressed up is not important, I'm still the same person inside regardless of how I look on the outside, so what's the big deal. There are times when I don't mind getting a lil natty, but it depends on what's going down.

I was always known for the nice rides that I had. nice paint, wheels, stereo and low to the ground. I used to ride low and slow, now I just ride slow with about ten cars behind me, they can honk all they want because I don't hear to well. People are always in too much of a hurry anyway.

I don't particularly like being called sir, but when these young kids call me sir, it's o.k. because they are just trying to show respect, something that this world is lacking a lot of, if you know what i mean.

I'm starting to live some of the jokes I used to tell when I was younger. There's this one joke that goes, you know your getting old when you bend down to tie your shoes and you look to see if there's anything else you can do while your down there. It's not funny anymore, because I've found myself doing that.

One thing I noticed is, the things that used to matter to me before are just not all that important now. The only thing that really matters now is my family and friends and the good lord. The sooner you figure that out the better off your going to be. No matter how much your worth, your still going to have problems. Can money buy happiness ? I think not, I've seen poor people that are just as happy as can be. It's called being responsible and living within your means, I think you get the picture. Some people are just happy most or all the time and some people's lives are just full of drama, some even seem to enjoy the drama, don't know why that is, I guess it just comes down to, it takes all kinds of people to make this world go round , of course this is just my opinion, but I think there's some truth in there somewhere.

My hearing is starting to get bad. My wife and kids will sometimes ask me a question and I have no idea what they said, so I just say yes, as if I heard them. Sometimes they give me a funny look and just walk away. Not Maya though, she'll keep on until I understand what she's talking about. There has been a few times when she just says oh Grandpa never mind. Sometimes not being able to hear well has it's advantages, I'm sure the men out there know what I'm talking about. I heard ear phones are not worth buying, unless you buy the real expensive ones. Sorry family your just going to have to except me the way I am.

I told my wife when I retire, no more haircuts and no more shaving. I'm semi-retired and my hair is down to my shoulders and my beards getting longer every day. let's see how this plays out. Hey I told you guys I think a little different. My wife tells me I'm crazy. I'm not hurting anybody so what's the problem.

I bought me a Harley when I was sixty-four, some of the young folks "that are already old" ask me, why would I buy a Harley at my age, well why not, I like them, getting older doesn't mean you stop liking things that are cool, older people stop liking/doing things because they listen to other people that tell them," your too old to do that" but not me, if people don't like what I do, well so sorry. How does that song go, I'll do it my way. well folks, that's me. I still like the old Bomba's too and if the opportunity presents itself, I'll buy one. Lowriders are still cool to me. One thing I did notice is that I'm running over more curbs lately and I keep scraping the curb with the side of my tires, I think the side of my tire is showing more wear then the bottom, this is something I would not allow on my cool rides before. When I bought my Harley my wife and kids wanted me to get all dressed up the way they do on t.v. I still say what's the big deal, if I ride my Bike with levis with holes in em and an ol greasy t-shirt, what's wrong with that. w.t.f. I'm a biker....hah

One good thing about getting old is your taste in a lot of things starts to change and you start paying attention to things that you didn't care about before, like some music for instance. A lot of the music I didn't care about before, I find pretty cool now, I'm reading a lot more and I'm reading books I wouldn't even think about reading before. Your taste does change for the better as far as I'm concerned.

Being called Dad and Grandpa by your children and Grandchildren is the most honorable and respected achievements that I have earned in my life, it's just special when your kids call you Dad or your Grandchildren call you Grampa. It's something I can't get enough of, no matter what they are up to.

Now here's some good advice for you youngsters out there, more then likely your going to run into some bad times with your health, probably after the age of fifty. Hopefully not, but if you do, meet it head on whatever it is, read all you can about it, research your condition on the internet, ask lots of questions, try and become an authority on your condition, exercise regularly and eat well. Exercising and eating well are the two most important things you can do to help yourself out. When you exercise, concentrate on your legs mainly, "they say the legs are the first to go" because when you do this, whatever exercise you are doing will help you with your cardiovascular also, which is very important. O.k. enough of that, I just thought I would just throw that in here, because I think it's important.

Brain farts are tough, sometimes you'll be talking about something and the next thing you know, you have no idea what the hell you were talking about, sometimes you just have to wing it and make it sound like you do, depending on the situation, but I usually just say "oops brain fart" most people understand.

When I was in the Army, I was in an Artillery unit and my ears got blown out, Rock and Roll didn't help much either. Later my legs started getting real weak, but as I stated above, exercise and it will help you more then you can ever imagine. I play softball all summer long on three different teams, I wouldn't be able to do this if I didn't exercise.

I'm just trying to give you an idea what it's going to be like when you get older. I know a lot of you will handle getting old a lot better then I have, hopefully that's true for all of you, In essence, this is just my perspective on what it's like on your journey in becoming an old fart...hah

Jazzy

My Grandaughter Jazzy was born about sixteen years ago. When i seen her in the hospital, i got that good feeling you get when you see a newborn ( especially one of your own ) she was a beautiful little baby. The next day i was at work when my wife called me and said there was something wrong with the baby, i just got this ugly feeling, so i told my supervisor i had to go home. It was really scary when the doctor told us what he had to do to her, she was an infant and she was going to get operated on. The doctor told us she had hydrocephalus, she got operated on and we all went through some very hard times with her. Jazzy, Gwen, Belinda and myself, there was some weeks when we had to go to the hospital sometimes three four times a week, because something didn't seem right, sometimes we would be there till early in the morning. We would wait for the doctor for hours, just to have him come out and say she's o.k. It was scary when she used to choke when she was drinking from her bottle, you just felt helpless, but i'll tell you what, this is one strong kid. All the health issues she's had and now she's very very healthy. she hardly ever gets sick now. I give Belinda and Gwen a lot of credit for being so strong and taking care of Jazzy during these critical days of her life, Adrienne wasn't living with us at the time, but i knew we could count on her if needed. When we brought her home and she had that bandage on her head, she just seemed so fragile. I was afraid to pick her up, because i thought i might hurt her. There was one therapist that came to the house for awhile to kinda see how she's doing and he told us that Jazzy would never be able to remember anything for a long period of time, he said when she learns something , she'll forget it right away, one guy told us that she'll never be able to walk or talk or do anything. Jazzy sure proved them wrong, she can walk, she can't talk but she can do sign, she can get the remote and turn the t. v. on and find her favorite program, she knows how to operate the d.v.d. player. This kid just trips me out all the time. Sometimes when she's thirsty she'll go and get the juice out of the refrigerator and bring it to you with her cup and you better be ready for it. sometimes my wife or daughter's having a real hard time with her and i have to go help, a lot of times i calm her down by singing to her, can you imagine me singing, itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle little star, you are my sunshine and many more. It calms her down. If for some reason she doesn't like what i'm singing. she has her way of letting me know, usually a grunt and when your not paying attention to her she'll give you a head butt, upper cut, kick, or all of the above. I've really gotten good in self defense. she's tricky though and she still gets me with that upper cut, i never see them coming. Sometimes you'll be walking by and she'll kick you and start laughing. Now if it would have been one of my other Grandkids they would hear about it because they know better, but not Jazzy because she doesn't really know any better, but in some cases she does know the difference between right and wrong. I know this sounds a little contradictory, but you would have to walk in our shoes to know what i'm talking about.

Sometimes she does things that you just have no idea why she does them. Like when she was a little baby, the squeak of a door hinge would set her off into a major tantrum, but now she'll go get the cabinet door and move it back and forth to make it squeak, one day we were sitting in the kitchen and Jazzy comes running in the kitchen and goes over to the cabinet door and opens it and makes it squeak a few times then goes back in the living room, we all just look at each other and think what the heck was that all about ? We just kind of attribute that to living with Jazzy. She is special you know.

Sometimes we sit on the couch and i do, this little piggy went to market thing with her over and over and over again, it's her favorite. I also do the one potato two potato and the one little two little indian thing with her, she loves it. I also do my imitation of James Brown and one of his doo wop songs and some others. She cracks up.

Everybody just loves Jazzy, my Grandkids understand her situation and they are very good with her. My favorite is when she gets that Jack Nicholson look, that's when you need to watch out. Today Maya told me she was going to go to her Dads house for Christmas, so i pretended that i was crying and i was telling Maya please don't go and Jazzy thought it was funny, she just started cracking up. When Maya cries Jazzy thinks it's funny.

The other day she woke up and turned on the t.v. and she had it on the Spanish channel, they were playing some pretty hot salsa, some times she'll have the t.v. on the Jazz channel, she also likes the song by James Brown, Get on up. and a bunch of others. Sometimes i'll get her and whistle a tune and start dancing with her, I put one of her hands on my shoulder and i hold the other and we dance, i'll spin her around and she loves it, but if she's not in the mood, she'll just grunt and push me away. I know better than to push my luck, so i just leave her alone. She can get moody sometimes, but that's o.k., you just have to know when to back off and let her be. The other day i was taking her out to the bus to go to school and i had her hand on my chest as i was walking out the door and i let go of her hand to open the door and pow, upper cut, right on the jaw, then i took her out to the bus and i was standing behind her as she was climbing up the steps to the bus, she tried to get me with a backwards head butt, but she missed, so then she tried to kick backwards and she caught me on the leg. I tell you, she keeps me on my toes. I've seen her catch the bus driver a couple of times, it's not funny but i can't help myself, i have to laugh, after i get back in the house. She has gotten better though, or maybe we've gotten faster. Jazzy is a beautiful little girl and of course she has her problems, but she is capable of learning, it's just going to take her longer than others.

This kid really loves to go cruising, especially to McDonalds, you have to put her in front though, she won't ride in the back, so that means when Belinda's driving, i have to ride in the back, like a big dork. That's o.k. if it makes her happy, then i'm o.k. with it. Sometimes you just have to go with what ever makes her happy. She's suffered so much because of her disabilities, that you get to a point when you say that's alright as long as she's happy.

There was an amazing thing that happened once, it was when we went to have Jazzy baptised, it was after her operation and she was having seizures all day and night, we had taken her to the Doctor, but he said there was nothing he could do about them, well when we went to the church to have her baptised i prayed to God to please make the seizures go away and not knowing it at the time, Belinda was praying for the same thing. When Jazzy left church, she had one more seizure and that was it. Thank you Lord.

When Jazzy learned how to use the t.v. we put in her room for her, it was hard to keep her off it, one thing she loved doing was turning up the volume real loud and we would go running in the room to turn it down and she thought that was hilarious. I tried putting duct tape over the volume controls, but she just pulled the tape off, I even went as far as putting bondo on the volume control, but she managed to pick at it, until she got it off. I finally ended up gluing the control with super glue, she managed to break it loose one time, so i put it on real thick and that did it, poor t.v. looked like hell after all that, it had residue from the duct tape, bondo, super glue and little pieces of plastic that i tried gluing over the volume control that she broke off. After that it was the d.v.d. player, once she learned how to use that, she just kept on changing the discs and eventually she broke it, after about three d.v.d players, we tried hiding them, we hid one below the t.v., she found it real quick, we tried hiding it in a drawer, she found it, we put it in a box, she found it. I finally had to disconnect it and put it away. Gwen bought her a c.d. player cause she loves music and Julian made her a c.d. with her favorite music on it, she learned how to operate it, so now we were stuck listening to James Brown, Lady Gaga, and Sesame street. We also gave the bus driver a copy to calm her down if she ever started acting up and she did play it for her, so now Jazzy's cruising in the bus listening to her c.d.

One thing i want you all to understand, it's not easy trying to correct some one like Jazzy, because she doesn't understand things the way other kids do, i guess that's why they came up with the name special needs. You have to just keep trying till you find something that works, but something that works today, might not work tomorrow, some of you might think we're spoiling her, but that's not the case, We believe Jazzy's tantrums come from her frustrations from not being able to communicate verbally, she does know how to do sign, but that only helps so much. If only Jazzy could talk, if she could, i think it would make a world of difference for her. Raising a child like Jazzy is not easy, but at the same time, it's very rewarding. Every time she learns something new it just makes you so happy. I've taught her how to say Mama, what a trill that was when she first said it. Yesterday i was teaching her how to say no and she said it, but it came out sounding more like "not", close enough. I was told that if she didn't learn to talk by the age of five, she would never learn, but that's not true. There has been cases where children have learned to talk when they were in there teens. So you have to keep trying. Sometimes when i'm trying to teach Jazzy how to talk, i'm the one who sounds like the one who's special needs. Jazzy's brought a lot into our life. she's an amazing child. Like i said before, you would have to walk in our shoes to know what i'm talking about.