I Enjoy being 80

 Here I am, 80 years old and soon to be 81 in a few months. I find
it encredible that I am still poking around after all these years. 
My sweet and wonderful wife of 60 years and I have lived our 
lives pretty much as we had planned. Over the years we have 
had our up's and down's. Our down's have hurt us, such as 
losing our parents and our youngest son.These things do 
happen and it doesn't do any good to say,"why me, lord,why
me. What have we done to deserve this."


I found the following article and it fits me almost perfectly.....so
I decided to steal it. If it fits you and you want to share it with me,
speak up! There is enough to go around many more times.


** Old 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, 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, I am entitled to overeat, 
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, 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 bikini set. 
They, too, will get old! 
I know I am sometimes forgetful. 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 a 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 turn gray,
what there left of it.I tried growing a beard to compensate for hair loss, 
but that didn't work out very well. My laughs are forever etched into 
deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many 
have died before their hair could turn silver. I can say "no," and mean 
it. I can say "yes," and mean it
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.
Today, my friends,I wish you a day of ordinary miracles.
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