Two years ago on rockit.za.net:

Old archives from my uni days...

Age

I'm currently helping out my dad at their lab by doing some filing - it turns out that my folks can't find five minutes every day to put paper away properly, and so elegantly chuck said paper upon what eventually becomes a very un-elegant pile, leaving me to pick up the pieces (literally) when I get back from uni. I'm not complaining, getting paid for a few hours of paper sorting is great, but I can't help feeling that all of this could be avoided with a little stream-lining. A bit of admin stealth, if you will.

All of the above serves not as an intro to a post about productivity et al, but just to contextualise me looking at my father's hands, really. I have the same hands as my dad, long fingers ('piano fingers', says my mum) long nails, no half-moons except on my thumbs. His hands have always kind of signified him to me, I could probably pick them out on a line-up. But today while he was looking at a piece of paper with no known filing location, I got a chance to look at them, and they've changed.

My dad has *gasp* liver spots, I think. These are so old age! I swear his wrists are fatter, too. Is it just the tan, with some freckles, that makes me think his hands look aged? I don't know, whatever it is, they look like an old man's hands.
We've got, like, the HUGEST thing happening in my family EVER, with Cha so close to delivery. Turns out the baby is even ahead of schedule, so that if born prem he won't be underdeveloped. Eager, eh? And this event will magically transform my parents into - GRANDparents *lightning strike*. I don't think I'm ready for that. I don't think they're even ready. I'm sure my mom is quietly having a nervous breakdown about it.

I don't want them to get old. I remember sitting on Beryl's bed the day before she died - she was in her early 40s. I never want to have to sit on my mom's bed like that, no matter how old she could be when that time comes.

I think that if I was an Arwen, I think I'd give my mom the funky silver Aragorn necklace.