Soundness of Body? Soundness of Mind?
I had a wonderful lunch yesterday with my sister, two cousins and an aunt. We sat around the restaurant table eating rusticky Italian food and just talking for hours. All 5 of us are women of a "certain age." Middle age, although Kat would disagree-she says that she is old. I suppose once you are 60 or older you are allowed to hold your own opinions.
We caught up on each others lives, and the lives of our spouses and our children. Since 4 of us are here on the East Coast, and Kat lives on the West Coast, there was plenty to catch up with. Although I did note that my sister and I could finish one anothers sentences, and Kat and her sister could do the same. And through some sort of family osmosis, most of us had a pretty good idea of one anothers lives, even if we didn't know the details.
But, as I said, we are all of a certain age. And eventually, the conversation came around to health. And one by one, there came the litany of the illnesses, the surgeries, the therapies, the "I've learned to live with its." Except from me.
I was not the youngest of the group, so it wasn't an age thing. Economically, though, I would be least likely to be able to afford to deal with so many of the issues that my sister, cousins and aunts have coped with, both in terms of the medical care, and the replacing my skills and abilities within the household while the medical needs are being addressed.
Which makes me wonder. Am I truly that much healthier than the rest of my family? It is possible. Or have I just gotten really good at ignoring the hints and symptoms that send the more affluent to the doctor?
We caught up on each others lives, and the lives of our spouses and our children. Since 4 of us are here on the East Coast, and Kat lives on the West Coast, there was plenty to catch up with. Although I did note that my sister and I could finish one anothers sentences, and Kat and her sister could do the same. And through some sort of family osmosis, most of us had a pretty good idea of one anothers lives, even if we didn't know the details.
But, as I said, we are all of a certain age. And eventually, the conversation came around to health. And one by one, there came the litany of the illnesses, the surgeries, the therapies, the "I've learned to live with its." Except from me.
I was not the youngest of the group, so it wasn't an age thing. Economically, though, I would be least likely to be able to afford to deal with so many of the issues that my sister, cousins and aunts have coped with, both in terms of the medical care, and the replacing my skills and abilities within the household while the medical needs are being addressed.
Which makes me wonder. Am I truly that much healthier than the rest of my family? It is possible. Or have I just gotten really good at ignoring the hints and symptoms that send the more affluent to the doctor?