I asked my 73-year-old grandpa how it feels to age. He said he doesn’t feel like he has at all. He said he would look in the mirror and see an old guy who kept following him around.

My grandfather said that he feels his age when he tries to move. He feels it in his body. He suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, so he has little control over his body and how it functions. No matter how active he was or how well he took care of himself in his early years, he would always end up in a wheelchair. 

Imagine how often he wishes to run. I know that he does because he told me stories about the dreams he had where he could run again. Imagine how badly he wants to have that freedom. There is freedom in moving and deciding where your body goes, but to dream of running, what a unique desire. 

I don’t know which is worse, to have a brain that knows it should be able to do something and can’t, or a capable body and a brain that can’t use it.