Old Age Is A Gift

If you think you are as if suffering A.A.A.D.D. and feel that you are very forgetful most of the times, then I suggest you to read this article written by an old lady whose name I don’t know as I got it from a friend’s forwarded email. Anyway, as she put it rightly,” some of life is just as well forgotten” for ageing people but “eventually remember the important things” though we tend to be forgetful sometimes.

I feel that when we age, we should be ageing gratefully. Yes. I am grateful to God and how nice it is that when I wake up this morning, I get another day in life. And I am thankful that this is the day God has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

I agree with her that “as we age, it’s easier to be positive.” Once we are positive in life, even as we move on into old age, everyday seems to be a joyful day for us to live on as long as we know how to stay healthy and keep fit physically, mentally and spiritually. Again I suggest you to read Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s advice on ageing and retirement.

Here is what the old lady has to say:

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, and my loving family for less gray 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 cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko 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 and sleep until noon?

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 gray, 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, 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)