old: adj. dating from the remote past; advanced in years or age

age: n. one of the stages of life

Getting old is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do–except for, maybe, being born. I have no memory of my birth, a strong case for the masking of its difficulty. Mom told me the doctor said I had shoulders like a football player. She might have said my birth was one of the hardest things she ever had to do.

perspective: n. a mental view or prospect; the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance

Mom made the same breakfast every day for Dad—two over-easy eggs with bacon, toast, and homemade jam. She fixed me a mug of hot chocolate with a huge, fat marshmallow melted atop. Sunday morning breakfasts were the exceptions. That was the day we had homemade biscuits, French toast, pancakes, or waffles. Not only do I love waffles, but I have a very sentimental connection to them because of Mom’s Sunday breakfasts—almost a symbiotic one.