Worth The Read

A Dear friend of mine sent me this a couple of days ago. I thought "wow" it says what most of us think these days in my age group. I don't think a lot about getting older, but sometimes when I am with people that are a lot younger than I am I think "I have food in the fridge older than these people". I think there is a certain amount of wisdom that has come with the gray hair and lines in my face. I think I have learned what is important and what is just "stuff". I think it is all part of the letting go process I am in right now. To know what to hold on to and what to let go of. I don't think you can get there as a youth, I think it only comes with extreme joy (like the birth of my grandchildren) and deep sorrow (like the death of my mother). But one way or another we all get there. So have a read and for one moment stop and think of all the things it says. If you are young, you will page back and never think another thing about it. If you are "older" you will pause and think for a minute or two. And at our age thinking for that long is pretty damn good!


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
kinder 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).