The older generation

Going back to what I was saying about my tendency to blame all my ills on having had cancer and / or radiotherapy, the more I think about this, the more I think that much of what I'm complaining about is simply a function of ageing.

This was brought home to me quite forcefully today when I heard that a dear friend of my family - my godfather - has been rather unwell recently and his doctor is putting this down to his age (85). For me, this is something of a shock and quite difficult to accept; my godfather has always seemed the same age to me, never any older, never any younger. Until about a month ago, there was no real sign of age but, suddenly, he finds he can't do the things he was doing and that he has physical symptoms of ageing that weren't apparent even a few weeks ago.

I may feel as though I'm still a teenager, but I'm going to have to accept that I'll soon be part of "the older generation" and, as such, I have to expect some deterioration in my levels of fitness.