Ageing
If you are like me, born before 1950, you probably thought then about how far in the future 2000 seemed to be. Now we live in the year 2022, and we are all still alive! Amazing! I have been thinking about growing older because I have a birthday coming up soon. So, I did a bit of research and found that other folk have had similar thoughts. For example, playwright August Strindberg has said, “Growing old, - it’s not nice, but it is interesting.”
I like what the actress Ingrid Bergman has said, “Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become, but your view become more extensive.” How true. When we were young, perhaps we hadn’t completed our education or we had just married. Maybe the first baby just arrived or we had a new job. Each event becomes “a ledge” in our lives. Now we can look back on some good memories and probably some painful experiences making our view extensive even though we are a bit tired and breathless.
Speaking of “tired and breathless,” I share the words of the golfer, Jack Nichlaus, “The older you get, the stronger the wind gets – and it’s always in your face.” Isn’t it just a bit harder to crawl out of bed in the morning than it was thirty years ago?” Do you feel as few aches and pains here and there that tend to slow you down? Do you find it a bit harder to breathe after climbing one flight of stairs? The “wind of life” seems to be blowing harder each passing year.
On the other hand, I have to agree with writing George Santayana who said, “Never have I enjoyed youth so thoroughly as I have in my old age.” Being older lessens many of our responsibilities. I had time for myself when I was young, then years of parenting and teaching high school English filled by life. Now I have time for myself again. And its’s fun. Political Lady Nancy Astor has written, “I used to dread getting older because I thought I would not be able to do all the things I wanted to do, but now that I am older, I find that I don’t want to do them. “ I don’t know about you, but growing older has convinced me that I have no desire to climb onto the back of a horse or ride a roller coaster, experiences I used to love when I was younger.
Actress Bette Davis says, “Old age ain’t for sissies,” whereas Pastor Norman Vincent Peale suggests, “Live your life and forget your age.” Musician Pablo Cassels believes, “As long as you can admire and love, then one is young forever.” Scientist Marie Curie writes, “The older one gets, the more one feels that the present must be enjoyed; it is a gracious gift, comparable to a state of grace,” and architect Frank Lloyd Wright agrees. He says “The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.”
So I, and I hope you feel the same way, am thankful for my memories and am hopeful for future. I close with the delightful through from actress Billie Burke, “Age doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.” You older folk, enjoy these days.