Superannuari

You don’t notice it at first, when it happens. It’s like you drift sleepily through it. It’s a surreptitious thing. But, one morning you will awaken, and you will know it’s happened.

For as long as I can remember, I have always believed that my mind leads my body, that it is ahead of its time. I have always yearned to live years in the future where my mind believes it would be more at home than it is now; years ahead of the body it oversees. “Keep up! Keep up!” my mind shouts. “There is so much to think about!” My body, like a stubborn teenager, does not listen; it lies in till noon and lags behind.

Then, secretly one night, in a covert manoeuvre, my body became older than my mind and - how shall we say? - got a little ahead of itself. “Slow down! Slow down! Stop! Stop!” my mind shouts, like King Canute. “I need time to think!” My body still does not listen, as it ages beyond its years.

So it is with us superannuari.