I recently read an article about a 75-year-old doctor from a small town in Minnesota who was commiserating about loving his job, but that he was getting old, like his patients, and was realizing what he had always told them about aging as being “entirely and inescapably normal.” It was now happening to him.

I have commented before in this space that getting old is a bit like driving a used car…you need more “lube jobs” and “oil changes” than you used to. More doctor visits and more medications become more prevalent the older you get.

I think another way to think about aging is to think about erosion. Erosion is the constant wearing down of the earth by the elements of mother nature, most commonly by wind, water or ice.

When you are my age (over 80,) though not related to those forces per se, you begin to feel the effects of erosion. After 80 years of work, the systems that make you “tick” begin to show their age. There is nothing bad about this, it is just the way it is. Erosion is a natural thing.

It becomes then not a question of whether or not you will face erosion, but where it will occur and how it will affect you.

I think the biggest source of “erosion” for me has been with my back. Spinal problems can affect your legs, and so walking has become more difficult. I say this not to complain but just as a point of observation. Other people experience old age “erosion” differently.

Sometimes, of course, our own habits can exacerbate things…perhaps, the most prominent being how smoking affects the lungs and respiratory system. Fortunately, as a non-smoker, that has not been one of my problems…at least up ’til now. (Notice, I am hedging a bit…you never know what might be coming next!)

So, why write about something like this?

I guess because I know that either sooner or later everyone reading these words will be finding themselves in a similar boat, and the issue becomes not whether we will face erosion but how we will deal with it.

I have no great advice except to say that accepting it is better than denying its reality. Stay active, stay involved. Celebrate the good things. Rejoice in family and friends. If you are feeling down, read something uplifting like verses from the Book of Psalms. Self-pity is no solution. You are human. You need to live within your limitations.

And, when all else fails, follow the advice of the old song: “Nail your shoes to the kitchen floor, lace ’em up and bar the door. And, thank the Lord for the roof that’s over you!”

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.