I know I complained a little when I turned f-f-f-fifty. It was a difficult time for me to step 'over the line', which apparently is on the 'other side of the hill'. Last week I filled out an on-line application and had to check the box '50-65'. You have no idea how much that hurt! I mean three months ago I was in the '35-49' group. That group I can tolerate. But to shift over to the 'senior' category is just unfair! They should just have groups up to 48, and then the last group should be '49+'. Think how gratifying that would be for those in their 80's! Perhaps I'm doing all this ranting because my body many days feels more like it's 80! I'm now exercising and drinking a Greens drink every day to build up my bones and get my menopausal joints feeling younger. If you don't shake the drink product good enough it's kinda like drinking green sludge, but hey, it's the antioxidant equivalent of 6 servings of organic salads, along with tons of other wonderful things!
Lately, I've been visiting with older neighbours across the street. They all raised their children on this street, and now their grown offspring visit with kids of their own. I remember when my children were young, watching these parents gather together on warm summer evenings on their lawns and chat...and thinking how 'old' they looked. I had a flashback to that image last week as I visited outside with the now widowed woman across the road and her elderly neighbour shuffled over and joined us. There we all sat - the old ladies.
Last week I made good on a promise to do some weeding for this widowed lady who has been having back problems and can hardly get around. She adores beautiful gardens and hates looking at the weeds she isn't able to pull. As I began labouring in her garden, she eventually came out of her house and was joined by the neighbour ladies from either side of her home. Two women would be in their early 80's, the other, late 70's. They watched me as I crouched over, crawled under bushes, pulling weeds and laying down mulch. My joints were aching. I could hear their conversation about how nice it was of me to be doing this. Then the oldest one in her shaky voice said, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be young like her and be able to do all that?!' I stifled a choke. I chuckled into the mulch. Young!! I am just a 'youngin'!! A spring chicken!!
I realized later that I had actually been put in my place for all my ranting. Age is a relative thing. To my kids, I'm old. To these ladies, I'm young. But we are all alive and breathing. The 20 year old is not guaranteed one more day to live than the 80 year old is. In this moment, we all have something we can do for someone, or something we can say to encourage another, even if all our body parts aren't functioning as we'd like! I can wish to be younger all I want, but it ain't happening. I must be thankful for who I am, where I'm at, and be content with what I have. And today, I can truly say that I am. (and I'm a youngin!!!)
P.S. I have no idea how to spell 'youngin'. It's an old word, and Spellcheck won't assist me. :-)
It's not that I needed confirmation of what I said...that we're not guaranteed one more day...and we can die old or young....but the elderly lady I referred to who said I was 'young', suddenly became a widow days after I wrote that, and hours prior to her husband's death we lost a friend who was my age! Live every moment you have with purpose. You are blessed!
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