An Old Man Walks Down a Staircase

Photo by the author

How do you view the future? I mean beyond the practicalities of life: birthdays, bills, and whether you have signed up for lunch at Tuesday’s Rotary meeting.

Yesterday, I turned 77. It’s been a long time coming, but still unexpected. For ten days, Rebecca and I will be living in a house my former college employer owns in Nottingham, England.

It has a staircase, not unlike the stairwell in our home 4000 miles to the west, where we’ve decided to add another railing and handles at the bottom corner.

This morning, as I rounded the downward bend, my MAC was in my right hand, a toilet roll core snug in the right front pocket of my stretch travel pants, with my phone in the left pocket, freeing my other hand to grasp the railing as I intently observed each Morrell Hiking boot footstep.

When did this happen?

What comes next?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reader Comments

  1. Laurie Fisher

    Paul, I am reluctantly coming to grips with the fact that I can’t do everything like I used to. I don’t know why, but I cannot jump off the edge of a trail a foot higher than a lower trail and still land on two feet, for example. I cannot jump rope like I used to – at all. I am thankful, though, that I can walk briskly up a hill as we walk our neighborhood. Things could be worse!
    Your stairs photo brings to mind the stairs we encountered in a B&B in Bruges. Tiny stairs that wound tightly up to our third-floor room. Talk about being careful! And with carry-on luggage.
    To your point, we do have to make adaptations as we age!

Write a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *