Blame the Stairs

One thing you realize as you get older , stairs get steeper and are harder to climb. For years stairs have been no bother for me. I would run up and down them, even taking 2 steps at a time sometimes. Stairs were fun. They made places and buildings more interesting.

They were places to sit on and to use to find other interesting places. If you were a kid or a puppy a place to climb up and slide down or use for your slinky or ball toy. One of my favorite poems by AA Milne ( read it below) is about stairs. In England we had open plan stairs in our house and I can remember thinking that my 2 boys both under 6 were actually going to kill themselves using the stairs at a climbing frame. They didn't but they fell lots of times and thought it was lots of fun.

We even built our last house with 2 sets of stairs. The house was built into a steep hillside and the living area was reached by either set of stairs. It enabled us to see the view across the valley. I would go up and down those stairs maybe 10 or 12 times a day without giving it a single thought. Well maybe I did when I had to carry all the groceries up the stairs. That was a big chore but usually no bother at all.

At our new house we also have 2 sets of stairs but neither set of stairs do we have to use on a daily basis .So pretty soon after we moved in, I was not going up and down stairs regularly anymore. Gradually I have noticed that after 6 years it is now more difficult for me to go up stairs than it was previously although I can still come down okay. Now I have to consider is that because I just don't do it anymore on a regular basis or is it because I am just getting older and this is making me notice it more. Maybe a combination.

I just know cleaning the upstairs rooms is a chore I now avoid and put off as long as I can but now I blame the stairs.

Here is  the poem by AA Milne of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh fame.

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!