I wanted to start a blog and now I realize that I actually started this 3 years ago but never actually wrote anything.  I realize that as I get older the mystery of life is even greater.  You see my mother died when I was 17, so I never had an older person to watch grow old.  My Dad lived to 73 but I wasn't close to him and he certainly was the kind of man to share his feelings, so I didn't get any wisdom from him.  Actually, in the end he had Alzheimer's Disease and really couldn't share much even if he wanted.  So now that I am reaching my golden years I sincerely wonder what is normal?  I really don't have anyone to ask because I find that I am the oldest person I know.  My husband is 3 years younger than me and my friends are my age.  Also, not everyone is the same so my journey into and through old age is my own.  I want to document my travels so that perhaps it could help someone (maybe my children) deal with aging in an easier way.

I know this has been said countless times but I must reiterate here, the years seem to just suddenly catch up with you.  It's like you wake up one morning and suddenly you're old.  Now we all know that is not true, it's happening everyday but we just don't focus on it or perhaps we don't want to.  For myself, it was when I got my Medicare card that I realized "I'm old".  What happened to all the years prior to this?  Why wasn't I realizing this was happening?  I can't answer these questions.  I read recently that it's sort of an "AH HA" moment that everyone has at some point and it's different for everyone.  You just suddenly become aware that the dance is almost over, the song is coming to an end and there are still so many steps you want do try out.

I never really felt old.  I just kept moving along feeling like I always did so aging wasn't important to me.  I was blessed with a very healthy body and strong constitution.  However, at one point I noticed that I was having continual heartburn.  I had a checkup with my gastro guy and he did a full work up to find nothing drastically wrong.  I had a slight case of diverticulitus and my esphogus was slightly red.  Nevertheless, I kept feeling this burning in my throat.  We tried several kinds of medication, but nothing really seemed to help.  I also had terrible bloating where I could not eat very much food because I was filled with air.  Right after this stuff started happening, I left my job ad was home collecting unemployment.  I discovered that without all the stress of working my symptoms disappeared.  Obviously, the stress of my age and the energy put into working was having a toll on my body.  I realize now that when I take the time to do fun things everyday and do some kind of exercise that I enjoy, I don't have these problems.

Now the bad news!  What I do have is incredibly muscle aches and general body pains on a constant basis.  This is what prompted me to write this blog.  Does everyone feel like this?  Is this normal to have these kinds of pains?  How do I find out?  That's the basis for my blog.