Symptoms of Age

   A while back I casually mentioned to a friend that I feel like listing some of the symptoms of aging other than diseases or allergies acquired in old age. That is, not symptoms requiring a doctor to list and describe, but some that are aware of by the aged person.

   Well OK, but I’m not going to make this a project aiming at some sense of completeness—though I am sure that could be found on the internet, which I won’t bother to consult. So I’ll start with two.

   The first is obvious, that is noticeable by all: much increased wobbliness on my feet. Not very long ago I took long vigorous walks. Alas, that’s no longer the case. My leg muscles still seem in good shape and my brain seems to send out the signal: stride vigorously. No dice: vigorous it ain’t. Someone out there might have a more illuminating account, but I call it a symptom of relatively advanced age.

   The second age symptom with which I want to start this (possible) series pertains to hair—and I am thinking particularly of hair on the body—on the arms and legs and the bushier pubic growth. All that hair has gotten markedly finer than it had been. I attribute this—quite ignorantly, to be sure—to the fact that it has lost its original color—brown—and become call it transparent. Anyway, I take that fuzz to be a symptom of age.