Getting Older

1. We are all growing older with each passing day. When young I knew many who were upset as they neared or achieved the "dreaded" decade birthdays starting with number thirty. Those birthdays never bothered me but I thought number fifty might. Nope! It didn't bother me either. Then I reached sixty and it took me three years to adjust. I have been trying to figure out why for the past seven years. I finally think I have found it. With sixty I decided I WAS old. My hair was white, my body was over weight and flabby, my energy was markedly down and my enthusiasm for life seemed limited. However, the last few months I have noticed that I am no longer upset with being old. I am accepting that I will never again be as I was and I appreciate that I am as healthy and active as I am. Many of my friends and former relatives are younger than I and are doing much poorer in the aging process. They have had parts repaired and replaced, are suffering the same physical declines, and are looking and feeling much worse than I. For all this I thank my genes and the few efforts I have been putting into creating a healthier environment for myself.

2. Another thing I noticed is that I try to live in the here and now. I had lunch with a friend from high school yesterday and as we talked all she seemed to want to talk about were her children and grandchildren. Now I have no trouble with that but other than health problems she had done nothing but work for the last thirty plus years and had no plans or goals for the future she could focus on. Her children were doing things and she was not, so the past and their lives were all we had to chat about. My dad goes to breakfast each morning and watches tv the rest of the day so all he has to talk about is the past. I understand that as he is 88 and has mobility issues, but not at 67. I seldom want to talk about the past and writing a personal history is totally out of the cards. Give me the present and plans and goals for the future to talk about. When I am in my 90s maybe I will have no future to look forward to but not at this stage in life.

3. Old age seems to be a leveling out time. We all get unattractive, physically limited in one way or another, and slow down mentally. We no longer compete with others in accomplishments. We do what we do and are happy for that. I feel like I can't go into debt because I won't be able to get a job to pay the debt so I am happy for what I already have rather than wanting more. I have never been one to "compete with the Joneses" but tried to have my kids be somewhat comparable to others in their social group. Now I don't even have to do that. I am responsible for only me. That feels kind of good. I am happier in general now than I have been for at least the last ten years. I don't look back much further than that.