There was a day when the only person I knew with chronic pain was my mother.

No more.

One friend is disabled by serious hip problems. Two more have fibromyalgia. Another suffers from a lifelong dark, clinical depression. Someone in mind-numbing pain from a motorcycle accident years ago. My friend SD with disabling neuropathy, tinnitus and back pain from being rear-ended. A close friend is being treated for her second painful cancer. Another girlfriend with crippling migraines.

Pain seems to be aging’s companion and I don’t like it one bit. When you start to see it in friends your age, you have to wonder how far behind the curve YOU are.

I’ve been lucky. So far, just aches and pains from doing too much at the gym. But Trainer Tom stretches us like this so they’re never very serious. (And yes, I whine and protest constantly as he stretches me and sometimes I even cuss. Strongly. )

This month I had small pull from a charleyhorse after an 90-minute dance session. Last month a couple weeks of sporadic mild headaches.

Minor stuff, really, compared to my friends.

It’s not that these friends aren’t in shape. Most are.

It’s just that they drew a bad hand.

Aging is serious stuff.

photo-postcard from Postsecrets.com