Petrus Spronk
If you want to make God laugh, make a plan.
Old age is a queer way of being. It’s an event for which you don’t get time to practice. I’ve never been old before. But I cannot deny that I am standing on the edge of it.
It takes years to get old and when you get there, it’s a bummer. You cannot plan for it. But you can prepare for it by taking a stand.
I prepared by taking a five points project. This is the first time I have ever been anywhere near what I consider old. It sort of crept up on me. There were signs, though. Forgetfulness, for starters. Especially names and, more often than not, of people I know well. So embarrassing.
But now, at last, I understand why old people call everyone love or “darl” or “mate”.
Or this: When going on a journey, instead of designing the journey around the amazing curiosities of the trip, I now have to design it around where the toilets are. Yes folks, old age is a journey from toilet to toilet. It’s enough to piss you off. So, as a precaution, I have just downloaded the “Where is the Closest Toilet?” app onto my mobile phone.
When I turned 60 and knew what was coming, old age and its minions, a thought occurred to me. (By the way, those of my brighter readers will have noticed that there will be reminders on the edges of both sides the road at the entrances to the towns – big 60s just to annoy you which, if you make it, you will later be reminded by the 80 signs that you have entered the death decade.) I thought it as a good idea, and if you have a good idea, act upon it. My good idea was to start a project, a plan. (And here I can hear god already laughing. Chuckling in his heavenly abode. Laughing out loud at the folly of this man.) Anyway the project which got the heavenly laughter, was to start working on an idea titled strong old age. I based it on my five fingers so I wouldn’t forget. It worked for me, so you are welcome to it.
- Work. If the work hasn’t got a creative component it becomes dull, mind-numbing and hard to maintain enthusiasm for.
- Food. Food which is as fresh as possible, no tins. Preferably fresh from your own garden. (By the way, here is a piece of no bullshit advice: The best way to start a veggie garden is to plant a herb near the back door and tend it.)
- Walk. A daily walk around the block, and if you can do that in the forest you receive an extra bonus in that a walk in the forest has the potential to solve problems.
- Friends: Just look around you. This is so obvious that there is no need to elaborate.
- Thoughts. Keep your mind in a positive place. Positive thought is a strong force.
And finally, I know, as we all do, that in the shadows of old age, death lingers. That is a given. But, regardless of your age, the point is how to spend the time from this moment until the end.
My thought on this, and everything else, is to be fearless.
Petrus Spronk is a local artist and author who contributes a monthly column to The Wombat Post. We hope to receive his monthly columns for a vary long time yet.
