I can remember an article several years ago about a noted surgeon stating that when he turned 75 he stopped all diagnostic tests. He had seen too many times when people who could have died gracefully instead spent their time being operated on, purged with poisons, invaded by radiation, to maybe live a few more months.

I just turned 77, so I have lived past the age that my father died. I consider myself living on borrowed time now. Perhaps, because of that belief, I am also imagining every pain as a symptom of something or another. I seem to have become a hypochondriac in that regard.

I think it’s time for me to stop all diagnostic tests and such, and just allow nature to take its course. It’s time to quit worrying about this or that symptom, and just live each day gratefully and happily as they come.

Worrying about this or that possible symptom takes away from making that day a pleasant one. Yeah, the aches and pains are becoming a common event in my life, but I can’t allow that to stifle my remaining happiness.