DO YOU SUFFER FROM “WAIDLE” DISEASE?
Many people suffer from this disease and it can be quite debilitating and while not necessarily life threatening, it can interfere with a person’s quality of life, affect personal relationships, careers and even one’s hopes and dreams.
Waidle (sometimes known as Wait-till) can start early in childhood and one expresses thoughts of “Waidle I’m in school” or “Waidle I can ride a bike”. Mostly, however, the disease is not prevalent in young children as they have a way of enjoying the moment. It usually manifests in adolescence and becomes more serious in young adulthood.
For me the disease was fairly dormant until I was a young adult. Many of my friends showed symptoms with comments like “Wait till I’m married” or “wait till I’m out of school.” My symptoms appeared in early marriage. It was waidle we move into our new place, waidle we get out of the military, waidle we have real jobs, waidle we have children, waidle we have more money. Waidle, waidle, waidle. Before I knew it I was thirty, then forty.
Now, I’m not sure when I conquered this disease. Perhaps it is only dormant. It is a now and then thing such as waidle vacation or waidle the big check comes in.
The most unfortunate result of this disease is that you often miss the good stuff. When I look back at my life from this vantage points and think of the best times I realize that I was unaware that I was going through the best times. I think about living at the beach and going to law school. One would think that in my fifties I was well beyond waidle. But I was thinking how my life would be different after I was a lawyer. Now I see those as my halcyon days. Life was good. I didn’t have money but life was good.
Another area this disease affected me was in that I didn’t travel and have adventures. That would always be in some future life. “Waidle I have more money, more time, more companionship”. For me I think the disease went into remission when I finally started having some adventures. I went to China as my first trip alone. It was part of a tour group from my hometown so it wasn’t a bunch of strangers.
As I was anticipating my 70th birthday I knew I had to conquer the waidle disease. I signed up of a two-week trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in a wooden dory. Now it would be strangers but I wouldn’t be alone. I think that trip was the first step in overcoming waidle. I came back with a strong desire to overcome this debilitating disease that had taken so much of my life.
I still get outbreaks every now and then. I’m still waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect timing but then I remember that in my seventies I really don’t have much waidle left.
What are you doing to overcome the scourge of the waidle disease?
Today I Saw My Future
I saw myself at what I hope is a distant future
I didn’t know it at the time, but today I saw my future and I found some inspiration and some despair. I was at my grandson’s baseball game which was called because of rain. As we were leaving a definitely older woman was descending the metal bleachers. I have become a poor judge of age because some people my age look really old and even some younger folks look older. But, she was older and using a cane. She looked down at the bleacher steps with trepidation. Hey, I know what it looks like to descend steps with bad knees. I felt for her.
There she was, all alone with no one to help her. She must have been there for a grandson and there must be a son or daughter nearby but at that moment she was alone at the top of slippery wet metal bleachers. I could tell she wanted to be independent but at the same time I wanted to offer assistance. Not in a condescending way but in some way that would help her down but preserve her dignity.
I offered my hand but that wasn’t enough. I asked her to hold my arm. Finally I was able to just pick her up and bring her to the bottom step where she could get her footing. I gave myself a mental pat on the back that all that weight training allowed me to lift her. I think the fact that another “senior” was helping made it OK. No loss of dignity. One senior helping another. She mentioned that age was bringing infirmity and my reply was my standard quip: “It beats the alternative”
At that point we made eye contact in mutual recognition. We even hugged each other Yes, it beats the alternative.
Nothing more needed to be said.
ARE YOUR FRIENDS ALL THE SAME AGE?
When we were little kids we all used to like to play with kids our own age. An older child playing with younger kids was considered weird. Many folks carry this into adulthood. I suggest that you learn to play with people of different age groups.
I frequently have “girlfriends’ potlucks”. It amuses m
e to see that we range in age from late 20’s to, well, a lot older. (I am generally the oldest person in the room) I learn the latest social trends, technology and even language from my young friends. My younger friends recognize the older sages knowledge and learn from it. We don’t have to read history books — we were there. We can give a perspective you don’t get from books.
I get diet and exercise tips. Hopefully my young friends get a better perspective in looking at a long range view of love and romance. The sages get to tell about the classic movies, the first time we saw the Beatles and I get to improve my playlist of current songs. Oh, and the young uns get advice about (gasp) menopause.
The adage “the more things change, the more th
ey stay the same” sure seems to apply. We find we are not so different. We lose our fear of aging when we see examples of what lies ahead that are good and wise.
I love my various groups. I stay current on technology through my younger friends and then I pass on what I learned to my older friends. I think we enrich each other’s lives.
Other societies seemed to have more interaction among the generations. It would serve us well to learn from them.
Do you have friends of varying ages?
What’s your experience?
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Karin Quirk