If you had your time again, what would you do differently?

Well said, Paul.  A philosophy we can all live by with whatever time we have left, be it 8 years or 80 years.

This is from an e-mail a friend sent to me.

Age, I decided, is a gift.  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, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.  As I've aged, I've become more kind 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's & 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 fogetful.  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, to answer your question, 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)


MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN  YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER!

 
FRIENDS FOREVER!
 

 that was nice Wolf, I am afraid to tell you all I just had my latest lab tests done and I'm in trouble, I have bad LDL particles being created, and they upped my normal cholestrol count, and made other aspects like the LDL and HDL counts off...so I'm into new drugs and go back in 2 months, and I'm going to work on this now..starting Monday, I've told the numberous other web sites I go to that I might not be in there as much as before. I walked 3 times yesterday. Besides the dental work needing done, things are looking bleak for me to be very Merry HO HO HO...this year...maybe good everything true and good in 2 months?  I'm going to need some lively help in getting through the Holidays I think. I've met some great people along the way, I think if I could of changed things it would of been never to give my career up to been an housewife, it's put me in the poor-house in ways now. but then again, they say that the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world, and it is I've always kissed and hugged the kids, and encourgaed them to be better... and while I was sleeping the other day, I noticed the oldest grandson came in and gave me an "kiss" as he walked by, of his own accord thinking I was asleep. I think that makes up for my own son when he was about that age and four of his friends here saying, "Come on boys, I think we can "take her"...and through the years they have done that with me, with pillow fights, snowballs, sports of any kind I think also. I can remeber one time when my borther came over and he was out front talking to me when five hot wheel tricycles spun past him and lined up beside each other on the grasss, and all he could say was "Whoa..what's this?" to me....boys were already inside the house by then to play. I didn't know quite how to answer him..friends and neighbors?  but my gosh, just think, by now if I'd stayed working, I could of been with those pondering the fate of the world ahead by now, and to some extent I do that these days also. I wonder what kind of an world it will be for the great grandkids.