The Thursday Ramble: The Joys of Age

My birthday is late this month, a milestone year for me.  There have been a few times when I wondered if I would make it this far, and I have.  Odds are if I have lived this long, I will live another 18 years or so.  Half live that long, half don't.  I won't bet on beating the odds.  Something I read recently talked about life expectancy, and good health expectancy.  Most people live 6 to 8 years longer than they remain in good health.  Some dread the changes in health, rage against the storm trying to push sands of time back up through the hourglass.  It seldom works, and you can paint over the face as much as you want, but in the end it is still your face.   

I hope to embrace the joys of age, the joys of change. 

I move slower than I did.  Still too fast for my sweet bear, but slower.  I am more likely to stop and smell the roses, or sit for a minute. When I move more slowly I see, hear, feel and smell things that I wouldn't when I rushed past.  Finding new joys in familiar places as my body slows down.  

My hearing is fading.  Less distraction, less noise, fewer things that irritate me.  My oldest brother bought expensive hearing aids that bluetoothed to his phone, very high tech. The last time I had dinner with him, he wasn't wearing them.  I asked, and he said, "I decided I was happier not hearing all of the chatter. I can hear what I want and not all of the background noise." 

Death is nearer. I know when I have a chance to do something, I need to do it now.  We think we are invincible, and we are not. As we reach the age when our contemporaries are dying off, know it could be us next.  Do it now, there may not be a later.  We regret more the things we could have done and didn't, than the things we tried and didn't go the way we had hoped.  

The little shit matters less.  The slights, insults, and inconveniences that rattled my cage when I was younger, are easier to ignore, in the big picture, most of it does not matter in the end.  

I have a lifetime of learning, all coming together. A common lament is if I had known then, what I know now.  Well now I know, and I can enjoy it.  I should have a few more good years of thinking. 

Our lives are a collection of stories, after all of these years, I have a lot more stories than I did before.  A lifetime of stories that are easily triggered.  

These are a few, I will keep thinking on the joys.  Fear not old age, not all are privileged to enjoy it.