Aging in unexpected ways

I did always know I would 'age' – and when it came, I thought, I’d have aches and pains and sags; hearing loss, bad knees, gray hair and varicose veins… I knew my arms wouldn't be long enough and my feet would end up too far away. The potentials seemed limitless, but they were expected.

What I didn’t expect, in aging, was that I’d not be able to SEE fast enough. I just didn't know I'd need to improve my 'seeing' speed to cope with progress. Forgive me for using the term, but in my day if you drove a car or supervised a toddler, you could obviously see 'fast' things. I had skill sufficient to the task, right? But in today’s world? Um... not so much.

I couldn’t play a video game on a bet – and not because of my reaction time per se, but because I simply don’t see the ‘threats’ pop up or the ‘corners’ come at you or whatever is happening on the screen at such a pace. I can't react to what I can't even perceive!

Just looking at movie previews gives me a headache and makes me close my eyes; so many flashes of scenes in such a short period of time. How can anyone get the gist? They must think someone does.

So my conclusion is that I can't see fast enough any more. Maybe I never could.

I’m already being left behind, in the most unexpected of ways, by old age. And I didn't even see that coming.