Aging with Abandon

 
To throw oneself with abandon into anything means to give oneself over to some activity without reservation.  Unbounded enthusiasm!
                    
Now, I don't  mean I am going to run barefoot across our neighbor's field tossing flowers in the air, spinning in the sunlight shouting I'm 75!  First of all ~ I would have stepped in the first cow flap I didn't see and that would have broken the spell.  No - I mean I am working on abandoning a lot of long held habits that have done nothing but hold me back from truly just being myself. I know that I am not the only woman that has so immersed herself in trying to make things perfect for everyone else, that she herself has been lost in the turmoil.  I wish I had stepped back years ago to see that perfect is unattainable and the only one crushed by the stress of trying is the try-er.

When my doctor explained to me when I was complaining about entering my 7th decade that I actually was starting my 8th - I felt, oh well then - let's stop all this foolishness and get on with living with a new outlook.  It was not a getting thrown in the water and then learn to swim incident. It was more like a toe into the cold water of the Atlantic in Maine - just a bit of advance at a time to get use to it.

I found out that saying "no" was possible without the world coming to an end.  Christmas still went on without me baking cookies. Activities could continue without my fingers in the planing. If I took extra time to read in the sun rather than rushing to get my husbands lunch on time, he survived (although a shock to him after 54 years). I loved being a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, aunt, niece, sister, cousin, friend, neighbor, co-worker, volunteer  - but now I am enjoying the journey to find me.  

I am dancing to a different drummer even though my children always knew I did.  When I would say someday I'm going to write a book, they always knew I would. I lived in day dreams not realizing that they could come true if you didn't give up on them. I know now.   

And this aging thing.  Sometimes it is a pain in the neck (or the back) but with the right attitude it really is not that bad.  I am free to be me.  I am going to do my best to let go and let be.  I am going to jump in without reservation.

Will Rogers noted about aging that one must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.  ~ Yes, indeed.

 

Age Has Advantages

 
                  Aging with Abandon

To throw oneself with abandon into anything means to give oneself over to some activity without reservation.  Unbounded enthusiasm!                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 Getting old-er kind of sneaks up on you.  For many years I would keep an eye on my mother and aunt - reaching out to hold them under the elbow when we came to the curb just to give them a bit of security.  Lately my daughter has reached out to secure me the same way.  Now - just when did that happen?  Was a switch flipped in the middle of the night turning me into the secure-ee rather than the secure-er?  

I have seen lately that I am offered a seat should a place be crowded and help with carrying groceries.  I drink discount coffee and get breaks on movie tickets.  I live in a wonderful senior complex with a caring staff - my husband was even chastised for cleaning the snow off our car.

But the very best advantages to me are for my writing.  When you have over seventy five years of personal experiences in this great big world plus anecdotal experiences from family that take you back into the 1800's, your mind becomes pre-stuffed with the ingredients one needs to be stirred with imagination to bake up a tale. 

For for those moments when a senior moment pops up - I have my friend Mr. Google!  I find myself in such a great place. Decades ago, I felt on top of  technology when I held the copper wire from the radio and acted as the antenna to get rid of some of the static so the family could thrill to The Creaking Door or adventure along with Hopalong Cassidy.  Now I touch keys and fall into a social network where I have 'friends' from around the world.  Instead of sitting for hours in the library trying to dig out that tiny piece of information to finish a thought - I now click to links to fill the gaps and many times find places or twists I had not thought of.  

To me the technology I am now allowed is amazing. I do not take it for granted and I feel it an advantage to be of an age that has seen this progression and can appreciate the magic!  So what if high curbs can be a problem.
                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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