General Chat

Thank you young Carol. lol xx

your welcome to copy, must admit I didn't write it myself, it was sent to me by a Very,Very old friend i'm only 64 lol

Spot on Carol I would also like your permission to copy it if you please.

Frances

Nudge

How wonderful to have had that wisdom when we were younger Carole. Im 40 somthing, often I forget how much until the mathmatical 12 yr old tells me!
I find I worry less at this age so the best is yet to come:)
Teresa

Fantastic
Nudge

Brilliant !!

Cath x

What a delightful piece of prose. We "oldies" should adopt this, print it and Frame it.
Carol, do you mind if I print this and use it to send to friends?

Bridget

OH! I agree with every word. Who cares if strangers think you are odd! I will be odd if i feel like it and authoritative too if necessary, From my position of age, I know a lot.

Couldn't have put it better, that is just how I feel, especially the mother bit lol.
Carol

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have
always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my
body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I
am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks
like my mother!), 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 grey 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 biscuit, or for not making my
bed, or for buying that silly garden ornament 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?

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 grey
even though I dye it, 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)