I remember the good old days of my youth, back when I was ten feet tall and bulletproof. Time and circumstance taught me that I was neither, but sometimes I miss those days when I was too dumb to know just how much I didn’t know, and too careless to care.

I’m reminded of that now when I get out of bed in the morning and my body snaps, crackles, and pops more than a bowl of cereal. I hear my Dad making those groans and sighs he did every morning, and then I remember that the old man has been gone nearly 25 years, and realize it’s me making those noises! Me? No way! Those are my Dad’s noises!

Terry and I were talking the other day about how everything has to have a name and a cure these days. I can’t just be stiff and sore because I abused my body as a youngster, and now that I’m getting older, it has come back to haunt me.

What we used to call paratroopers’ knees, from too many hard landings, now must be some sort of cartilage damage or deficiency, and a good arthroscopic surgeon could probably fix that right up.

Those banged up vertebrae must be reason for some hack to take a hacksaw to me. So what if a couple of Advil makes them tolerable until I loosen up? That’s just treating the symptoms, let’s treat the root cause of the problem! All it takes is a minor incision, a hammer and chisel, and few months of traction!

When I was a kid, I never heard of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression. If I hurt, I was told to walk it off, if I was tired, go take a nap. And if I ever said I was depressed, the immediate response would have been “I’ll give you something to be depressed about!”  

Every time I turn on the television I am bombarded by advertisements promising this pill or that potion will make me happier, make me as randy as a sailor on shore leave, and even make my hair grow back!

There are just as many commercials from attorneys telling me that if that pill or potion made me happy, hairy, and studly, but now I have to wear a diaper and I hear voices in my head, we’ll sue the SOBs who sold it to me!

There is a huge industry that has grown up around helping us deny that our bodies are machines, and that as we get a few miles on those machines, they let us know it. Just take this pill and all of your problems will go away.

An even larger industry has been created so we can sue the people who sold us the pill in the first place. And if we win, we can take the 20% or so the lawyer didn’t keep and just go away.

Not me. I prefer to age gracefully, thank you just the same. Even though, if you were to ask Miss Terry, she’d tell you that there is nothing graceful about me getting my body into an upright position every morning. Getting old isn’t for sissies or wimps!

Thought For The Day – Your best friend may not always tell you what you want to hear, but rather what you need to hear.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

This really isn’t an RV topic, but I wanted to share something with you, besides the fact that we are still moving from the bus to the Winnebago, between a never-ending series of rain storms that have made the move a real hassle.

Like most people, I have seen magnetic jewelry for sale at RV rallies and craft shows, and probably like most folks, I really didn’t give it a whole lot of credibility. I had heard that wearing a bracelet of magnetic hematite could reduce all kinds of physical pain, and over the years I have even had friends tell me that they have had amazing results when they tried the things. Still, I guess I am too much of a skeptic, so I wasn’t convinced. Until now.

For two or three months now, I have been dealing with a lot of pain in my right elbow, to the point where it seemed like I was taking Advil or Tylenol a couple of times a day just to keep the pain at bay. I’ll be having my annual checkup at the VA hospital in Lexington, Kentucky soon, and it was one of the things I had planned to talk to my primary healthcare provider about.

I have also been dealing with either a bone spur or something on my tailbone, which over the winter got so bad that I could not ride my bicycle, and just sitting in the office chair I use at my desk was extremely uncomfortable after more than an hour or two. That was also on my list for when I have my medical checkup.

Last year at our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally, vendors Russ and Debbie Davis were selling magnetic bracelets, and they gave me one. I promptly laid it down on my desk and forgot all about it.

About three weeks ago I came across the bracelet when I was sorting through all of the stuff I allow to pile up on my desk, and I slipped it onto my wrist just to get it out of the way. About three or four hours later I suddenly realized that my elbow had stopped hurting! I was amazed, because the pain had been there so long, and it took me a while to notice that it was gone.

I have been wearing the bracelet pretty much fulltime ever since, and if I had not experienced it myself, I’d still be very skeptical. If I had to put it in mathematical terms, I’d honestly have to say that the pain has been reduced by 80%. My elbow still hurts if I lay on it wrong at night, or if I leave it extended in any position for a long time, but otherwise, I really am not aware of it any longer.  

Just this week there was a vendor at the Carriage RV rally selling magnetic bracelets, and I bought a couple more. When Miss Terry and I were talking about how much the bracelet has helped my elbow, I suddenly realized that the pain in my tailbone has been dramatically reduced too.

Yeah, I know some of you are shaking your heads right now, but all I can tell you is what I have experienced. I can’t explain how it works, but for me, it does. I’m not selling magnetic jewelry, and I’m not pointing you toward any particular vendor who does. But I know I have felt a tremendous reduction in my pain levels since I’ve been wearing the bracelet, and for the few bucks they cost, you might want to give one a try. What do you have to lose?

Thought For The Day – Friendship isn’t a big thing – it’s a million little things.