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Growing Wiser With Grace April 2, 2011

Posted by nrhatch in Gratitude, Happiness, Humor.
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As I’ve aged, I’ve become kinder to myself.  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 avant-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, despite pitying glances from the younger crowd.

They, too, will grow old . . . if they’re lucky.

I know I am sometimes forgetful.  But 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 when someone’s beloved pet gets hit by a car?  Broken hearts 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 blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray, and to have my youthful laughs forever etched into deep grooves on my face.  Many die far too young, before experiencing gray hair and laugh lines.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive.  You care less about what other people think.  I’ve even earned the right to be wrong.

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 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.

Related posts:  Advice From Erma * Dare to Make Mistakes * When I Am An Old Woman * Life Lessons ~ Randy Pausch * The Awakening by Sonny Carroll