AGING TRAPS

AGING TRAPS

(PART 1) 

Time is unstoppable!

 

Let’s Talk About You

 

YOU ARE (your age) AND THINK...

 

20s ... I Have All The Time In World!


NOT TRUE

You are now in your 20’s and think you have all the time in the world to begin realizing your dreams, whatever they may be. – NO YOU DON’T!

 

Tomorrow becomes yesterday in the blink of an eye. What you do have is time to try and try again and again and again. It’s O.K. to fail. Every successful individual has experienced failure before succeeding. The key to success is perseverance.


Stop dreaming and ACT TODAY!

 

30s ... What Happened To My 20s?


A WASTE OF TIME 

Stop wondering and lamenting! It’s time to pick a direction if you haven ‘t already done so. Wallowing in self-pity is a waste of time. Stop with the excuses. It is past time spending your energies hoping to achieve the unachievable. The odds are against you becoming a movie star or a sports star or any star for that matter.

 

Go for the achievable!  Act now!

 

40s ...  Oh No!

GREY HAIRS! 

You hate your job! It was supposed to be temporary until you could get enough money to start your own company what ever that may be. Steve Jobs started in a garage. You have a garage. Time to work around your job and get busy in your own garage or spare room or cellar. Just get started today!

 

Tomorrow may be too late!

 

50s ... Is That Me In The Mirror?


I WAS QUEEN OF THE PROM

Four kids! Put on a few pounds. I still have my looks. I coulda been a great actress. Thelma Winkwire, star of stage, screen and TV. Starred in all my high school plays. I really had talent. Shoulda kept my maiden name, Winkwire. What kinda celebrity name is Pulanski? Thelma Winkwire movie star! Seems like yesterday I was voted queen of the senior prom. I coulda have had my pick of any guy. Some got to be rich like those who became doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Why did I settle for Harry Pulanski? Worse! Why did I marry Harry? You know why Thelma!

 

I WAS STAR OF MY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM

I could have played college and pro football! Those pro football players make millions. That could have been me! Harry Pulanski, millionaire football-star. All those women I coulda had!

 

 I still look pretty good except for that spare tire around my middle and double chin. The bald spot is getting bigger. Why did I go to work in the mill after graduating from high school?

 

Thelma is to blame! If she hadn’t gotten pregnant—I had to marry her! That was the end of my pro football career, the women and the big money. Just my luck! The mill closed and I’m out of a job. It’s all Thelma’s fault!

 


60s ... THIS IS NO JOB FOR A SIXTY YEAR OLD

 

ON MY FEET 8 HOURS A DAY

It’s a job. It’s better than no job at all or...is it? I say to myself, Nick, be thankful that at your age with no education you still have a job. Some job! The pay stinks! It’s the pain in my legs and back. Nothing helps except getting off of my feet. That’s not going to happen.

 

Nobody cares. If I dropped dead on the job it would just be a minor inconvenience to management. They would fill my job as I was being carried out. 

 

I guess I should have gotten an education. I coulda been...

 

 

70s ... I’M UNPREPARED TO RETIRE


THEY SAID I WAS LUCKY TO AFFORD TO RETIRE 

Retire to what? I worked all through my sixties as a specialty clerk and saved for retirement. All told, I worked nearly fifty years and saved for the

time I would stop working. I figured that with my savings plus social security I could retire in style.

 

The day I stopped working I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was so busy working and saving I didn’t have time to make many friends. Those that I made are either still working or have died. I had no wife and no hobbies or outside interests. Never had time for that. I was too busy working and saving money to retire. Retirement stinks.

 

So much for retirement.

 

80s ... IS THAT ME IN THE MIRROR?

 

MY BRAIN TOLD ME I WAS STILL YOUNG

MY BODY DISAGREED 

Stop fooling yourself! I call it the crazy 80’s. I was lucky. From 80 to 85 all went well. Remember?  There were the two knee replacements that worked. When did that dizzy feeling begin? It was soon after the first replacement. It wasn’t too bad. I felt young; not youthful but young with a slight balance problem.

 

I know when the change happened! Cancer! It was the choice I made that affected my last four years. It was my choice to have either, surgery or a combination of chemo and 31 sessions of radiation. I chose the latter which meant a 30% to 50% chance of the cancer returning. Age influenced my decision. I made a life or death bet, so far so good.

 

 

90s ... NOW WHAT?

 

WELL, MY BRAIN STILL WORKS

That’s about all! What is it like being 95 you might ask? Even if you don’t I, Vito Puchinelli, will tell you anyway.


Reaching the age of ninety-five is no big deal if you consider the growing numbers of people living to the age of 100. I don’t know if I will get there or if I really want to get there. I suppose it depends. It depends on several factors other than a working brain. Like what you may ask. Even if you don’t I will tell you anyway. Mainly it is freedom from pain and that’s not going to happen. There is no relief from the unrelenting aches and pain. It’s the constant physical pain that tells me it’s time. Then there is that pain that comes from remembering who I once was and what I have become.

 

I’m ready.

 

 

100s ... HERE’S WHAT I TELL THEM: (IF ONLY I STOP LAUGHING)

 

THIS WOMAN’S SECRET TO LONG LIFE IS REVEALED

I’m 103 and fit as a fiddle...almost. Everybody asks me what is my secret to such a long life. I tell them anybody can do it. ... Don’t die.

 

THE END (PART 1)

 

Bob Flicker

 

Coming:

 

AGING TRAPS

(Part 2)

 

 

Regrets! Why did I do it...?

[Your age...]

 

1/17

awritersghosts.com

 © robert 2014