From: Slice of LIfe
I aint Getting any Younger
When I was a young person, I thought I would never see sixty three years old because it was so far ahead into the future. Time seems to stand still when you are young. I never thought much about getting older. It just crept up on me. I awoke from a dreamlike trance and realized that sixty three years passed quickly.
As a child I could always find fun things to do to occupy my mind to keep me enjoying being a child. Something as simple as finding a tin can to kick as I walked to town was one thing up which I did to ease boredom, and frustrations of growing. What simple times those were, no worries no problems, just trying to keep the can out of the ditch and in the road.
When I turned Sixty, I had only one thing on my mind making it too sixty-two. I exclaimed to all concerned that I would walk off my job wave bye, and not look back. Now, that I’m retired and have many miles behind me, I constantly remind myself that ‘I aint getting any younger.’
Congress should pass a law that would let folks retire at a younger age, say 52. This would give most folks about 10 years more to enjoy. It seems that many folks never make it to retirement. Some pass away long before.
As I age, I am learning to savor everything. I enjoy spending time with every loved one in my life. I have learned to enjoy every rainbow, every sun set and sun rise. I learned to watch the skies at night for wonders in the cosmos, perhaps discovering a shooting star to make a wish upon.
‘I aint getting younger’ is a familiar phrase that reminds us—- time waits for no one. I have written about aging before in my column and each time I write about aging it requires a lot of soul searching of my past. Did I accomplish everything I was capable of? Did I do all I wanted too? Did I visit all the places I wanted to visit? The answer is always—- not yet and I tell my self-conscious mind, again . . . ‘I aint getting any younger.
I just try not to take life or aging for granted. I live one day at a time and make the best effort I can to do the best of my ability.
I was in a Shopping Mall once where they had a shop dedicated to ‘‘Over the Hill’’ folks. It was full of gage gifts and some were not too flattering, and some were X-rated. I did not see the humor in giving gag gifts for old folks, even when I was young.
Those young folks that bash old folks and make fun of them need to be reminded that they themselves will be in our place someday. They will be the ones getting the ‘over the hill’ gage gifts from their younger friends. Please, if you want to celebrate my Birthday, don’t buy me one of these over the hill gag gifts. Just buy me a card that’s congratulating me for arriving ‘Over the Hill’ with most of my body parts intact and still working.
Life is short, sometimes shorter, and you only live once, but we can have a life to completeness by enjoying all to be enjoyed, observed and accomplished. Now if you will excuse me . . . I think I might walk to town, visit some friends and maybe find a can to kick along the way. After all I aint getting any younger.