Mother You Should

This is an aging population and most of us getting on in that way, keep silent but we shouldn't. No one really understands any situation unless they are in it and sometimes "being in it" is impossible to get across to others. It's that way when you are elderly and beyond what anyone gets other than those in the same place. Even those who make geriatrics their life study can't actually know how it feels. They learn all about neural, emotional, physical and other aspects of it, but their advice and recommendations often "stink". I am being frank here because it is time we elders stopped being nice about it all the time. The truth is that old age hurts. It hurts in lots of ways and older folks try to hide it behind their apple pie smiles and sweetness. Some get old and cranky but others of us see little value in that position, and go the other way. We love our offspring and call on patience. We tolerate the aches of rainy days, getting up and down stairs and chairs and having cramps in the night. We look at ourselves in the mirrors and ignore the signs of aging. We seek peace and quiet and reveries. We want nothing but to see our children grow up and find happiness. We need very little to be happy. We try to be tolerant of the doctor who is much younger and tells : "Mrs Blank, we need to quit on the sugar, the sitting around watching TV and all that sleeping a lot". He or she recommends strongly, eating whole wheat everything, quitting the coffee and wine, giving up sweets and butter on the toast, meat and pain pills. They say going to regular exercise classes where some cute little thing in spandex shows us how to bend and bounce will make our lives better. All the advice is wonderful especially for those giving it. They feel they're saving us from an early grave. We will live longer and better and even grow younger. They don't know the fuss of getting ready to go these things, nor of the aches and pains while doing it. Sometimes even injury. Advice of that nature is just another mother-you-should in my book. It's my life and having lived it decades upon decades, I think I know best how to do it. Let me make my decisions based on my wants and needs, not what the author of a how-to says I should be doing it. For him or her it might work but for me and a few million others, it doesn't. I am perfectly happy with that and if not, I will ask for input. I lived with my grandmother before I was married and she was a fine woman near eighty who lived to 102, who didn't cook well, ate whatever she pleased, never exercised, watched television most of the day and went to church and funerals as often as she could if someone gave her  ride since she never did get her license. She did have a bit of money and that always helps no matter what anyone says. When her children, my aunts and uncles came over to tea and her dreadful dinners, they entered the somewhat cluttered house and went about saying such as: "Mother you should get rid of this junk". It was junk but each piece of it was a memory and she did not hesitate to tell you about them repeatedly. If she was told "Mother you should not tell those stories, I've heard them a million times" her answer would be "I don't care I am going to tell them as often as I want to". When they harped about her doo dads, she'd merely point to a small plaque on the wall near the coat stand. It read "This is my house and in it, I'll do as I damn please".