What a drag it is getting old....

The gardener came in to the office yesterday with a very cheery "My! Every time I see you, you look younger and younger." Thinking that perhaps he's not getting any from his wife, I looked at his compliment a bit askance. "What is your secret?" he asked. I told him - chocolate. It's gotta be that. It can't really be anything else. Or it could also be the age-deceiving long blond hair that I'm letting grow until it grows out of control, down to my waist, down to the floor - whichever comes first.

Truth is, I was suffering all day from friggin' neck osteoarthritis. I struggled through Arabic class in the morning, where the arthritis pain creeped onto my head and basically throbbed there for the rest of the day.

Early in the evening, I had to go with my daughter and fiancee and Hubby and fiancee's parents and brothers to the wedding hall to sample EVERYTHING on the menu so that the soon-to-be-married couple can choose their wedding menu. They put out 16different salads on the beautifully decorated table, of which the couple had to choose eight. The quinoa was delicious, but it's too freaky/hippy/healthy for my daughter, (and I liked it) so she didn't choose it. I should have told her that I hated it, then she would have given it a second thought. Then came four fish appetizer dishes, which we all passed around the table, of which they had to choose two. Then came around four meat appetizer dishes, quite unusual ones at that, and I was reluctant to tell her what I liked. Then three chicken main meal and three meat main meal dishes of which they would have to choose one of each. The older brother was like "what about the vegetarians?" The groom said, "Vegetarians? If they want to eat leaves, they could eat those," he said, pointing to the extravagant flower arrangement on the table.

Meanwhile, I had popped two neurophen tablets into my mouth at the onset of the meal because of my neck pain and I was truly trying to enjoy the food. I don't know whether it was the food, company or excitement, or the neurophen, but the pain lessened quite a bit and I thought of why I had this pain in the neck to begin with.

I remember on Saturday night, my son had downloaded for Hubby all his heavy metal favorite tunes - Alice Kooper, Kiss, Guns and Roses. I ran into my son's room like a rock star and danced and pranced, shaking my head all over the place, like I was some heavy metal goon. Of course I thought nothing of it. Until Sunday evening, when the pain kicked in. And I thought - hey. I'm so limited. Dancing, prancing, jumping up and down for joy, running for the bus are only things young people can do. Not me. Not anymore. And it's a bit of a drag, isn't it?