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Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction


The following is a piece of writing submitted by HeyJude on March 25, 2008
"me..what you see is what you get"

Aging is not for the faint of heart

Aging is not for the faint of heart

The other day I was asked how I felt about being old. The question gave me pause, as I do not think of myself as old.
Hmmmm, I wonder when that mindset will evolve to embrace reality??

Right now, in the present, I am the person I have always wanted to be.
This is not to say there is an absence of despair over the changes time has wrought on my body.
I am a bit chagrined by the person that lives in my mirror,
however I don't agonize over her for too long.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my life, and my loving
family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I have aged, I am
kinder, less critical and am a friend with myself. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie (cookies) or for not making my bed,
or for buying that gorgeous spread that I didn't need, but looks so grand on my bed. I have seen one too many friends leave this world too soon;
before they embraced the freedom that comes with aging.

So be it if I choose to watch a chick flick, read or
play the piano or dally on the computer until four in the morning
and sleep until noon.
I dance with myself to “Proud Mary” and other wonderful tunes of the 60's, and 70’s and even pause without apology to weep over a lost love.
I walk the beaches in a swimsuit stretched over an imperfect
body, and dive into the waves with abandon.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. However, there again, some of life is just
as well forgotten and I usually remember the important things.
My heart has been broken over the years. How can your heart not
break, when you have done life in a war zone and have said a forever goodbye
to friendships forged in combat, or when your child suffers, or a marriage has gone askew?
A wounded heart has served to strengthen me and given me a greater
depth of understanding and compassion.
A heart that has never known sorrow is pristine and sterile; and will never know the abandon of imperfection.
I find laughter to be rejuvenating and consider myself blessed to have lived long enough to have youthful laughs forever etched into laughter lines on my face. Believe me, I have made more than a few interesting memories to keep me agile for years to come. (insert smiley face here)


As I age, it is easier to be positive. I have less care about what
other people think. I have well earned the place to not always be kosher.
And I am comfortable being a person in todays culture where so many mold themselves into a perfect botox image.
It seems a waste of time and energy to fret over spilled years, what could have should have and would have been, had I done this and not done the other.

Such great news; dark chocolate is vogue this year with the health gurus. I plan on eating my share without apology. I sing off key while hiking the trails, take time to smell the flowers, and kiss my grandbabies. Life is good.

Someone once said you cannot turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again.
So true, I have spent the better part of the past five years doing just this, hiking, photographing and enjoying the trails in our National Parks spread across this great land of America the Beautiful.
God has been good to this lady entering the autumn of her years. Each day is truly the day that the Lord has made and I do rejoice and am glad in it.

There are no dress rehearsals for this season of my life so I am giving each day my best.

Judy Crausbay



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