Getting Old

I'm not happy about being old at all, but I'm also grateful to be old as I remember so many friends that didn't get this chance. So many things I want to keep doing that age wont let one.  There's a growing list of things I never want to do again, so maybe that's a "reverse bucket list." Growing old or getting old, what ever your term, it's just like raising that first child.  They didn't give ya a book and what you watch others do might not be your idea.  I'd say ya run with it but I'm past the stage of running so we just try to walk faster. Remembering, this is the tune-up for what comes next makes that smile,

Good friends are like quilts: They age with you, yet never lose their warmth.

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, or sleep until noon?

I will listen to those wonderful tunes of the 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's..

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And, eventually, I 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.

I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have am. 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).