AGING IS NOT THE END OF LIVING!

Always ready to fly!!!

“Aging is not for sissies.”  

How often have you heard that?  My days living in an “adult” community have shown me two ways to go about this aging process.  Medical issues aside, there are some I have watched reach a point where they sit inside, hardly ever venturing out, waiting for the world to come to them.  Watching TV is their past time.  Loneliness often surrounds them.  When someone shows up to visit, the visitor often has a hard time leaving, sensing their loneliness and desire for the company.  Depression can so often be the cause of this behavior.  Life’s losses and unwelcome changes can leave a person feeling helpless.

Then there are those blessed with the ability to throw off the challenges of aging, and they continue to go and do and challenge themselves daily.  Their energy is infectious, and their zest for life is a joy to be around.  You see them march into an activity with a walker or oxygen in tow…nothing stops them from doing.  I love watching them.  Laughing, kidding, and giving their time for others fills their days.  They are my mentors for this stage of life.

How many times have you heard someone say, “In my head, I don’t feel as old as my body says I am!”  That is where I find myself these days.  I’m 70 years old.  I don’t feel it!  I don’t act it!  My age does not bother me as long as I can get about and do what I want.  Recently I have made some decisions in my life that will release me on to my next adventure in living.  With my home sold and downsizing plans progressing, I am going to take advantage of the remaining good days in my life to do and have fun.  It is important to me to keep balance in those plans.  The family is important to me, so remaining tethered to my roots while venturing out and then back is how I see my days to come.  

The most amazing thing about how I am feeling today is the feeling that this is my time.  I approach this with a sense of freedom and no guilt of work undone or obligations not met.  As a woman, once a wife, mother, and grandmother, I have given myself to all those around me completely.  When the family was young, and vacation choices were made, as long as the husband was happy and the children were happy, I was at peace too with what we did.  Things I wanted to do never came to the top of the list as long as those around me needed me.  And I was okay with it all.  I was glad for the opportunity to love them as I did.  But now, with the death of my husband five years ago, and the family all busy living their own lives, I find the opportunity to finally do what I want to do…no strings attached.  With my health in tact, my physical abilities mostly good, I feel lucky to have this opportunity.  

I don’t know what the immediate future holds.  I only know that I am living it.  Choosing.  Challenging myself to new adventures.  From backroad drives to nowhere, to cruises into unknown places, they are all on my bucket list.  Lifting myself to new heights by helicopter, hot air balloon (which I have done once but would love to do again!), or roller coaster rides…yes roller coaster rides…eating mud at dirt tracks, feeling my chest vibrate at a Nascar race…even falling in love are all possible…just as possible as when I started this adult life of mine 50 years ago.  And I am excited for the opportunity because as they say, some are not so lucky!