Reflections on Age and Aging

I’ve been thinking about aging. I know I am 68. I make no bones about it, do not try to hide it and declare it like a badge of honor. On the other hand, when about 4 years ago, the dental hygienist patted me and said “when we get to be your age . . .” Snippy child!

Listening to a report on some of the awful flooding that has taken place in the midwest this spring, I hear a woman say, “my mother is 70 and she lost everything and can’t start over at her age. What is she going to do?” I certainly don’t want to lose everything now and I don’t know what I would do if I had to start over “at my age” - at the same time I would like to hear one of my daughters say, “well, mom may be 70 and she will be just fine ~ she is tough and will make it.”

I have commented on the “old” age of people in the Agatha Christie mysteries I read. People who are old and dying or moving very, very slowly are all in their 60s - except for Miss Marple who is in her 70s but seems to be the exception to the rule.

The other side of that coin is my 86 year old cousin whose daughters took her to the beach for a week for her birthday - just the three of them - and they had a ball. Like being back in college my cousin said. I told my daughters they had 18 years to decide where they will take me. :) When I realized grand-daughter, Trinity, was in the class of 2023, I commented that I hoped my genetics held for the next 12 years and I would be around to see her graduate. Of course I will be! After all, in 12 years I will still have another 6 to wait before my daughters will take me somewhere to celebrate.

Age is so subjective. Of course there is some bodily stress. My knees don’t work as easily as they did in spite of the fact that my hip is not yet a year old. I don’t move with quite the ease I used to. Still, I thoroughly enjoy tai chi and can move energy with that form better than with any other I have tried.

The point of all this is that I don’t want people to judge me based on what they “think” 68 should be like, look like, act like. I want to be judged (if they have to judge at all) based on me, who I am, what I look like, act like. In the present moment with no reference to chronological age ~ because they will probably be wrong. ~ blessings