I had a birthday yesterday. In my younger days I fantasized about maintaining my physique, my progressive ideas and youthful outlook. I've kept some of that, but now that aging gracefully is not something in the distant future for me, I realize that one of the most important things to nurture is a good sense of humor. The mirror can attest to that.
We, who are joining the ranks of the maturely advanced, may be having a hard time keeping up with advanced technology. We, the nouveau senior citizens, may be encountering the beginnings of a mysterious ailment called eccentricity. We may also be experiencing sudden unplanned, previously unheard of, exclamations and groans of aches and pains. (Some of us used to make fun of our parents for these.)
What makes me think of these gerontological issues? Well, first of all, yesterday as a gift, I received a "smart phone". I am now recognizing that having a "dumb phone" all these years was surely a sign of my aging, not to mention my intelligence. And now I have to figure out how to use the thing. This morning I caught a glimpse of my shadow and had a negative "Aha!" moment. If I had seen me ten years ago, I would have dismissed me as a weirdo walking her dog in the park, because that's what old people do. Why weirdo? Because I was wearing a large straw hat, to protect me from the rays, regardless of how silly I looked. "Who cares?" I tell myself, now that I'm old. After the walk, as I sat down on a park bench, strangers could clearly hear me exclaim, "Owwwww." My back hurt.
"Aha!" I thought. "I must be getting old." I stared at the fountain gushing clear water into the middle of the pond and I wondered, "Could it be true? Might there be a fountain of youth?"
I'm old and wise now, so I know there isn't.
(Just turned 65.)
"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
Mark Twain
