The Autumn of Life

National Blog Posting Month – September 2014 – Crunch

Prompt – If babyhood is spring and young adulthood is summer, which age do you consider to be the start to the “autumn” of life?

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I almost didn’t respond to this prompt. I’ve hit mid-life, and I’m not crazy about envisioning the “autumn” of my days. I still feel like I’m in the midst of summer. But it’s coming, I guess. It’s inevitable.

So I’ll try to respond.

If babyhood is spring and young adulthood is summer, I’d say middle-aged is July and August.  The autumn of life, I suppose, would be at about that time when retirement is no longer a distant pipe-dream, but more of a necessity. This may vary from person-to-person, but for the people I hang out with, this seems to be ages in the later 50’s into their 70’s, when one is starting to slow down for sure, but there are still plenty of good days.

I hope my own autumn is a long way off. I’m fighting it tooth and nail, but there are moments when my body doesn’t respond in the way I expect it to. Moments when my arms aren’t quite long enough to read the menu. Moments when I have to cock my head and cup my ear just to hear someone. There are those clicky joints that click worse than ever and days when getting into and out of my car is a genuine chore.

But that’s not every day. I’ve got some time. It’s still summer and the days are long