Enjoy Your Age

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).

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