Oh, yeah. At 64, I?m a card-bearing senior citizen, gray-haired, slightly bent and with a slow, almost uneven, gait. Pains, discomforts and memory lapses are almost round-the-clock ordeals: the slow, sure and irreversible ravages of aging.

A mix of things don?t interest or excite me any more. Staying up late for a TV movie classic, slyly staring at plunging necklines of girls in a mall, gulping one-for-the-pillow beer in a karaoke bar and gossiping with matrons are among them.

All my adult life was like a speeding bullet train. It suddenly stopped and shrunk into a cocoon. Morning watering of backyard orchids, limping walk in the park, keeping track of electric and water bills, blood pressure reading, fetching two grandchildren from school, Bible reading, thumbing over obit pages and late evening Mass ?are where all my waking hours, week in and week out ? swirl and orbit.

Memory lapses are not far and in-between. Sources of irritation and embarrassment, mind you. Wifey, for instance, has to strictly monitor my daily intake of about a dozen assorted medicines. Otherwise, I?ll probably overdose. Or the not-so-funny situation of introducing a friend to a friend, I suddenly forget my friend?s name. Ouch!

But strangely enough, on far away times and far away names and places, my mind stays fierce, lucid and livid. Images of boyhood rivers I forded, towering trees I climbed, fireflies in my hometown, rice fields at dusk, and the haunting face of a girl tucked in an album of summer memories quickly bob up and down in gorgeous galore in memory lane.

Pray tell me, aren?t these tell-tale signs of Alzheimer?s creeping?

Waking up four to seven times at night to empty the bladder is a vexing discomfort. Enlarged prostate, a poker-faced urologist ruled. ?Inom ka na lang ng sambong? [?Just take ?sambong? (a Philippine medicinal herb)?], a well-meaning family kibitzer advised. ??Nasa utak lang ?yon.? [It?s all in the mind.] Surgery is painful. Just learn to live with it. Part of aging,? was wifey?s practical wisdom. Wifey, as usual, prevailed.

The strange, mellow joy of being fondly called ?and recognized as? ?lolo? [grandfather] is one intangible dividend of aging. Consider this: the security guard hurrying to open the door for you; the drugstore clerk always flashing his thumbs-up smile; taxis stopping at your finger flick; and the bank teller sparing you the queue in encashing your social security pension check. And of course, restaurant, transportation and medicine discounts plus free movies in Makati City movie houses?for which wifey and I thank heaven.

I have also gotten rid of many burdensome ?luggage? in daily life. Patience, tolerance, compassion and discernment have long slowed down the volcanic temper, the fiery reflex of vengeance, the glutton for more and more and more. I have rounded off, for instance, people whom I think I have hurt or neglected and reconciled. Gee whiz, it pays to travel light.

One rainy weekend, my precocious 12-year-old grandson Anton, whisked me off to what he called ?Internet surfing.? I don?t know if aging is the culprit to my strange dislike for cell phones, computers and what-have-you modern gadgets. But I, of course, obliged or ?for the life of me? I would lose my daily ration of hugs and kisses (sublime therapy for heart and soul).

He flicked and flicked. And what do you know? My eyes popped out over items on aging. To wit, nobody knows why we age and die; even without illness nothing can stop the genetic process; we grow old, we mature, we stop growing, we deteriorate and we die. No modern treatment can stop the clock.

Nothing new, I sort of teased Anton. But the next line struck me: how we live may help determine how long we live. The computer rattled off a laundry list to achieve this: physical activity, positive attitude, active spiritual life, diet and health vitamins?these are some anchors of productive aging.

I just came across a passage: Some people are unhappy because they spend their lives in front of the Complaint Center.

At 64, the zigzags of life have been exciting, rewarding and adventurous. I just strive to live quality life from day to day, always thanking the Good Lord for the daily bread. I feel happy and accomplished as I await the Final Roll Call. So there. Oh, yeah.

Ike C. Gutierrez was a former press undersecretary and college teacher. He is now a full-time grandpa and farmer.