Aging in Swirls and Circles

Like this snail, our lives, from day to day build colored circles and swirls in our memory,

Like this snail, when events move us, our varied lives come along behind.

Like this snail, we leave a trail behind us to be remembered a little, a lot or a middling bit.

Like this snail, we may shed our houses as we age.

Memories are inked in our souls.

“Memory is the scribe of the soul.”

~ Aristotle

Golden Years Dreaming

Dreaming in the garden

clearing dry soil 

from around tender new beets,

trying to not pull at their fragile roots.

Fragile ~ kind of like my dreams.

Who do you think you are?

Dreams!

At your age!

You should be thinking of 

how to wind down your golden years

aging gracefully ~ 

with aplomb and acceptance.

Dreams from childhood, 

adolescence and adulthood

already be boxed up and packed away.

If you didn’t get them accomplished in a timely manner 

then you really need to forget about them.

Just be comfortable with 

what you have,

where you are.

But those dreams,

like the fragile beet roots

stay in the soil waiting to be gently watered.

(There is a bit of a time line crunch though.)

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because 

they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”

~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Philosophy on Aging

An earlier post mentioned that I am merely middle aged.

True.

So I know nothing about aging - 

only what rolls around in my mind and

what I hear other folks saying.

Kids (anyone under thirty five) have dared to call anyone 20 years older than they ~ ‘old’.  I probably did the same thing when I was one of the ‘anyones’ under thirty-five.

Sixty five and up isn't so old any more.

I’ve got too much to do,

people to meet

places to go

things to learn

experiences all.

My own place in the aging game is one of worry ~

worry about ill health, 

not enough money, 

loss of mental faculties,

being alone with it all.

One or all of these is a very sad reality for some of us.

I do know about worry - I am well practiced at the worry game.

Worry is very portable

Worry can be done anywhere, with anyone and at anytime.

Even sleeping, worry invades dream space!

So my philosophy on aging is just like worry ~

Aging is portable.

Aging will happen with or without my consent,

so just keep enjoying everything that comes your way

learn from all of it - good, bad or mediocre.

And don’t forget to have fun!

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, 

the philosophy which does not laugh, and 

the greatness which does not bow before children.”

~ Kahlil Gibran

Learned Quietness

In a group of my peers 

~ all of us from the 60’s ~

it is definitely not quiet.

Just a bunch of aging teenage girls chattering about poodle skirts, 

Elvis Presley, 

grandchildren,

politics of the day and 

trips abroad ~

solving all the world’s problems

until someone mentions the latest in haute cuisine ~ or chocolate.

However,  

when in a mixed crowd of generations

frustrated silence surrounds me

until I’m asked my opinion ~

although I might just give my opinion.

If I listen to the younger and the youngsters

I do hear

curiosity, new ideas and questions 

(many that my generation struggled with)

willingness and frustration

annoyance and growing acceptance.

The quietness that comes

with each step up the ladder of decades

allows a view of ourselves in those younger ~

our own past selves 

growing up

finding our way

learning how to experience life.

“The quieter you become the more you can hear.”

~ Ram Dass

Aging the Time Away

Each of us has a life story forever changing as days pass into years. Personal stories are full of all of the details gathered while aging the time away. Life stories are seldom completely full of light. Even so, there’s often at least one person within all of life's details that stays in our hearts throughout our lives or arrives midway through to bolster our spirits and believe in us.

In our careers, our families, our communities we touch many lives, from cradle to grave, while aging the time away. The touch to our own, or someone else's, heart, be it distant, casual or intimate, may last someone’s lifetime.

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper

that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”

~ Charles Dickens

As Aging Proceeds.........

Fewer words to say

Many more thoughts muddled over

Drifting memories pile up in corners of our mind.

But....

..still lots of visiting done

thoughts shuffled about

memories sorted through ~

some savoured, 

some buried, 

some shared

and some let go

No matter now humble a life....

...surprises come quietly as wisdom, knowledge, and curiosity

seep through seams and cracks between each year.

“The great thing about getting older is that

you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle

The Gray Wave

The Gray Wave ~ 

sounds like a salon do

something elegant, 

something flamboyant

something chic.

The gray wave ~

a term coined for

a vast aging population ~

any of us over 65.

And with that definition, 

it could become

ominous,

threatening.

Our adult children, 

working

playing

standing on the shore

of their own generation,

have been told to watch and wait for

the tsunami of our advanced and advancing years.

We children of the 60’s

wanted to do things differently 

be individuals in somehow a different manner

~ and often did.

Our next challenge?

Growing old and aging ~

flamboyantly,

elegantly

and with great chic!

Let it also be a time for 

respect and honour

learning and kindness

understanding and compassion

for, and of, each other as individuals.

We are not just an amorphous gray wave.......

“No one should part with their individuality

and become that of another.”

~ William Ellery Channing