I'm 42, and feel fairly ancient in a bodily sense, but sometimes like a kid, or at least a teen, as far as my dealings with society. I''d love to be able to reincarnate back to when I was maybe 14. I was fit. I did wc track and field (selected for Team USA in 1989 Junior Worlds), and dibble dabbled in other sports as well (the University of Illinois, out of, I think, their rehab department, had an adaptive sports camp for a week or two each summer where we'd be exposed to track, tennis, archery and other things we might or mightn't normally do).
But once I entered, say, my senior year of high school, moving from the Tampa Bay area after two years to the Phoenix area to attend a boarding school, I dropped all that, and became too concerned with girls, and knee deep in homework and such. Plus, there was really no wc sports programs I could be a part of, and so my body over the years fell into disrepair.
At 42, I am 60+ pounds overweight and have hypertension. And my appetite is still as strong as it was as a teen. Not what I envisioned when I was 15. I thought I was invincible back then, as I think many teens, even over in the able-bodied world, do.
I am also experiencing strains and cramping of my shoulders from walking that I never did (I've always primarily walked, but I did have wheelchairs for longer distances, like 2am Denny's runs at university). All of this means I have lots of fatigue now, and am not the happy go lucky guy I was in my teens.
Hormones aside, I do miss my teens.
But once I entered, say, my senior year of high school, moving from the Tampa Bay area after two years to the Phoenix area to attend a boarding school, I dropped all that, and became too concerned with girls, and knee deep in homework and such. Plus, there was really no wc sports programs I could be a part of, and so my body over the years fell into disrepair.
At 42, I am 60+ pounds overweight and have hypertension. And my appetite is still as strong as it was as a teen. Not what I envisioned when I was 15. I thought I was invincible back then, as I think many teens, even over in the able-bodied world, do.
I am also experiencing strains and cramping of my shoulders from walking that I never did (I've always primarily walked, but I did have wheelchairs for longer distances, like 2am Denny's runs at university). All of this means I have lots of fatigue now, and am not the happy go lucky guy I was in my teens.
Hormones aside, I do miss my teens.
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
