Whimping Out with Age

It has occurred to me recently that a lot of things tend to bother me as an adult and it’s not very hard to compromise my comfort level. This is something I appear to have developed with age and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.

Back in the day when I was little I played outside a lot, I rode my bike all over the place, we played sports and ran around and got sweaty, we were always dirty, we drank hot water out of the hose… you get the idea. How a days it’s a different story. My husband and I recently got new bikes as part of our “get off our fat butts and do something” initiative.  I rode the bike once and was like alright this isn’t THAT bad… butt hurts a little.  I Rode is a second time and did half my ride side saddle because my ass was apparently bruised from the first outing. After 2 easy bike rides I resolved that there would be no more riding of the bike until I bought an ass cushion. I don’t recall ever being bothered by a bicycle seat in my childhood, and I know I didn’t have a seat cover, and I am even more sure that my butt itself was less padded back then. So when did my butt become a total candy ass? (pardon the shameful pun)

And aside from the bike, I as an adult hate the feeling of being dirty. If I get sweaty… I want a shower.  When we were little our mother had to throw our dirty butts in the shower or a bath because we were content to just wallow in our disgustingness a bit longer.  When we were little we used to play outside all day during the summer only to venture in for occasional food and blue cool-aid.  But mostly we got thirsty and went to the hose of the nearest kid’s house and drank water that had been heated all day in the sun inside a rubber hose… delicious. Now as an adult, I don’t even like cool tap water. I get cold filtered water out of the refrigerator and there is usually ice involved at some point.  And speaking of playing outside, the only rule in the summer time was that you’d better be back home when it got dark.  Well this usually meant we were outside until 9-10 o’clock thanks to the longer days.  Now as an adult I dread being outside in the summer after 7 because as the sun starts to dip behind the horizon I know that the bugs will come out, and darn it if they don’t find me delicious.  Well… I’m pretty sure I taste the same to bugs now as I did then, and if I’ve always been delicious why didn’t I care about bug bites back then but HATE getting them now. Have I lost my itch tolerance with age?

I suppose what I wonder is, have I always been bothered by these things, but to a lesser degree? Or was I truly unfazed by them as a child and have developed new comfort settings as an adult?  And if so why did this change occur? Is is a natural part of getting older? Is it that now I have experienced a clean world full of soft seats, cold water, and insect repellent, and I just don’t want to go back to “roughing it”.  And don’t get me wrong I still go camping, I get sweaty, I hike, I work in the yard, I go on adventures… it’s just that now, I notice it.