Old age, I decided, is a gift...
 

I've posted this before, but I wanted to say it again.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body--the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, the sagging butt.

And often I am taken aback by that old person who lives in my mirror, 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 less critical and more kind to myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie or for not making my bed. I am entitled to overeat, 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 stay awake late and sleep late? I will dance with myself to the wonderful tunes of the 50s and 60s and if I, at the same time. wish to cry over a lost love,

I will walk the beach in a swimsuit that is stretched over a bulging body, despite the pitying glances from the bikini set. They, too, will get old.

I know that I am sometimes forgetful...but then again some of life is just as well forgotten, and I 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 your child suffers, or when a pet gets run over by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.

I am blessed to have lived so long and to have my youthful laughs etched into the deep grooves into my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn gray. I can say "No" and mean it. I can say "yes" and mean it. As you get older, it is easier to be positive.

So, you care less about what people think, I don't question myself anymore. I've earned the right to be wrong. I like being old. It has set me free. I am not going to live forever, but while I am here, I will not lament what could have been, or worrying about what will be.

Those wrinkles from "youthful laughs" are from eating too much acid at the Grateful Dead show Spence!:lol::leaving:

Sometimes I feel exactly the same way. Then I sober up.:D:shots:

There's no acid at ABBA concerts.

What was the question??

sorry for the loud noise, resume your nap. :yesnod:

George Carlin on getting old - starts at 1:25 mark

you sure about that? :leaving:

Unfortunately there's not much music there either. Maybe a hit would help change my perspective?

https://i.redd.it/8p8amrfroab21.jpg



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old age; some handle it better than others...

























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Acid? No
Antacid? Yes. :D



Did you take your TUM'S Fernando?

Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Although I lack the eloquence of the OP (and of Dylan Thomas, for that matter...), I share many of the same feelings. I'm "only" 73, but I take comfort in who I am, what I am, what I've accomplished, what I'm still capable of, etc. In my younger years, I worried excessively about my career, our future security, and so on; I no longer have those concerns, and it's a nice feeling.

And of course, I enjoy & appreciate our children & their families, their happiness & successes, and look forward to more of the same from our grandchildren.

i'm going to a pistol match sunday, action pistol (time plus misses is your score, low score wins), and i enjoy going out and shooting with friends, but even better is shooting against these young bucks, under 35 or so, and beating them. i don't move faster than they do, but often i'll out shoot them, have fewer misses in just a little slower time, and when you add it up, i come out ahead of them.

"c'mon man, you can't beat this old guy (me)? i'm 56, have grey hair, a pacemaker, and don't practice that often!"