Old Age

Old Age, I decided, is gift.

 

I am now, probably for the first time in my life,

person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my

 

body! I sometime

despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes,

and the sagging

butt. And often I am taken aback by that old

person that lives in my

mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't

agonize over those

things for long.

 

I would never trade my amazing friends, my

wonderful

life, my loving family for less gray hair or a

flatter belly. As I've

aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less

critical of myself.

I've become my own friend.

 

I don't chide myself for eating that extra

cookie, or

for not making my bed, or for buying that silly

cement gecko that I

didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio.

I am entitled to a

treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

 

 

 

I have seen too many dear friends leave this

world

too soon; before they understood the great

freedom that comes with

aging.

 

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play

on the

computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

 

 

 

I will dance with myself to those wonderful

tunes of

the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to

weep over a lost love

... I will.

 

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is

stretched

over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves

with abandon if I

choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet

set .

 

They, too, will get old.

 

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there

again, some

of life is just as well forgotten. And I

eventually remember the

important things.

 

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.

 

How can your heart not break when you lose a loved

one, or when a child

suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets

hit by a car? But

broken hearts are what give us strength and

understanding and

compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and

sterile and will

never know the joy of being imperfect.

 

 

 

 

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have

 

 

my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs

be forever etched

into deep grooves on my face. So many have never

laughed, and so many

have died before their hair could turn silver.

 

As you get older, it is easier to be positive.

You care

less about what other people think. I don't

question myself

anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

 

So, to answer your question, I like being old.

It has

set me free. I like the person I have become. I

am not going to live

forever, but while I am still here, I will not

waste time lamenting

what could have been, or worrying about what will

be. And I shall eat

dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)

 

 

 

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY

WHEN

IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART!

 

MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR

FACE

AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER!

 

Done