I read somewhere recently that most injuries in older
men result because they think they are younger than they are. A wiser and truer phrase
has seldom been uttered before, and then only by those blessed with worldly
insight.
We have just helped to construct a large deck at our home.
It replaces a much older, poorly constructed and unstable one. When I say “helped”,
it means more than writing the cheque to the contractor. It has meant a week of
hard labour for two men in their seventies who like to think they are younger
than they are.
The demolition stage resulted in a tall post holding up an arbor coming crashing down on the head of the younger old man as he was taking up the
battered old decking below. A large lump ensued. And it knocked him to the
ground flat out on his ample stomach. He moaned. His beloved older partner impatiently
told him to stop being so dramatic! And
he had to admit to instilling the moment with a little bit of orchestrated
drama; but, true to his nature, he was loath to admit it.
The demolition continued. The rough-hewn lumber then arrived with
the contractor the next day.
Our house sits on a hill. The deck sits in a garden below at
the water’s edge. The distance between the trailer carrying the newly arrived lumber
and the site for the new deck was considerable when one considers the hill
which lies in between. I am not quite sure how this transpired, but it seems that the two old
men were the ones carrying the lumber from the upper realms to the lower. Be
assured, the lumber was heavy and it was abundant. And being rough-hewn, there were splinters.
And I am not sure how, but the younger of the two old men
was set to task digging the ground for the foundation posts. He was also set to
the task of hammering the hefty nails into the hefty boards that would form the
base of the new deck. Now in fairness to the older of the two old men, he had
suffered of late from a very sore shoulder. But he did an able job handing the
nails to his partner. And he dared not tell him he was being overly dramatic
when he hammered a nail on his left hand’s thumb, rather than the metal one
that he had been aiming for.
And when it came to the decking, the older of the old men unexpectedly had a meeting to attend in a town a half hour away. And then, on
another day, there was a chiropractic appointment for both the lead contractor
and the older of the two men. This left the younger old man alone to manage
the power screw driver that was used to fasten the planking to the frame.
Now in fairness to the lead contractor, he was the
mathematician that figured out the angles, and cut the difficult pieces and articulated
the finer work of the construction. And in fairness to the older of the old
men, he was really eager to assist, but reluctantly compliant with his partner’s direction
to take it easy. And, like the nails, he did an able job of handing the younger
one the screws, at least when he was present to the site of construction. And his freely offered advice on the manner of construction was somewhat digestible.
Now the weather did delay some of the work with three days
of maritime rain. So, the contractor and the older of the two old men took
advantage of this one of those days. They drove off to a distant place to pick up the
decking boards, and to have lunch. The younger of the old men remained at home to soak his bruised, scrapped, splintered and blistered hands in hot water and vinegar. An ice pack comforted his lower back and shoulders.
But the result has been worth it, despite concerns for one’s
health and, indeed at times, one’s very survival. The hands will heal. And the
aches will subside. And the hours of leisure on the deck will be rewarding. So,
sometimes it is good that old men think they are younger than they are.
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