Shape shifting

As I have aged my body has changed. Some for the better, some not so much. As I have aged I have changed my body as well:

I’ve fed it…great things, bad things, poisonous things, restorative things. All manner of things over the many decades I have inhabited this form. My diet has affected my shape, my skin, my hair, my internal organs…especially my brain.

I’ve exercised it…sometimes too much; causing harm, sometimes not enough; causing decay. The interesting thing is that for the most part the movements I have subjected my body to have given it great pleasure. I have run, jumped, stretched, swam, dove, ridden horses, ridden motorcycles, skied, hiked, made love, done yoga, bicycled. So many wonderful things that I can hardly remember them all and yet my body does. It remembers casting for trout in Tennessee, sailing in Tortola, diving in Raja Ampat, giving birth in Wisconsin, skiing into a tree in the Alps…it remembers it all.

I’ve changed it mechanically with artificial parts added, replacing worn out old ones: crowns and veneers for my teeth, lenses for my eyes, color for my hair, implants for my breasts, new and improved lady parts without cancerous tissue. I’ve done waxing, plucking, peeling, sculpting, stretching oh my god so many manipulations of my dear carcass and yet it loyally remains in service.