My Kind of Old Age

It's time for me to start getting old. I'm 56 and going to be a grandmother in three months, thus my musing on the topic of old age.  Loving quotes the way I do, I looked up a few about aging. They seem to fall into the following categories:

Avoidance/Denial     "I will never be an old man.  To me old age is always 15 years older than I
                                    am."  Francis Bacon

                                    "Old age has got to start creeping up on me very soon, and frankly I'm
                                      very scared.  I don't want to be old. I've always felt so young and I want to
                                      stay that way."  David Niven

                                    "Let us never know what old age is.  Let us know the happiness time brings,
                                     not count the years."   Ausonius

Disdain/Contempt       "Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre."  Philip Roth

                                     "Lord save us all from old age and broken health and a hope tree that has lost
                                      the faculty of putting on blossoms."  Mark Twain

                                      "Old age isn't for sissies."  Bette Davis

Humor                           "I'm like old wine. They don't bring me out very often, but I'm well
                                        preserved."  Rose Kennedy

                                      "Old people should not eat health foods.  They need all the preservatives they
                                       can get."  Robert Orben

                                       "You spend 90% of your adult life hoping for a long rest and the last 10%
                                       trying to convince the Lord that you're actually not that tired."
                                       Robert Brault                    

                                   
 Avoidance and denial seem like a waste of time,  I mean, you're going to get old, which is much better than the only alternative. Disdain and contempt? Who wants to approach anything from that point of view! Humor is an awesome tool when dealing with life, but I am thinking seriously about growing old.....

Then I found this quote by Dame Freya Stark.

      "If we are strong, and have faith in life and its richness of surprises, and hold the rudder steadily in our hands, I am sure we we'll sail into quiet and pleasant waters for our old age."

Perfect!!!  I am all about "quiet and pleasant waters", not to say that I plan on abandoning fun, excitement, or adventurousness, but the underlying theme of peaceful waters born of joy is my kind of old age. (I have to include "born of joy" because I have recently been taught that happiness is dependent on favorable circumstances and therefore tenuous, while joy is based on a peaceful soul which circumstances cannot affect; therefore rendering joy, permanent.)

So how do I achieve this kind of old age? Freya tells us in her quote. "Hold the rudder steadily in our hands." In his poem, Invictus, William Ernest Henley agrees - "We are the captain of our souls."

Excellent!! We are in control of the type of old age we enjoy!

This reminds me of another quote, this one by George Bernard Shaw.

                  "Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself."

 Well, holding the rudder and being the captain of my soul is all well and good, but what course do I follow? Where is the map?

 This is where each person is on their own, left to find their own course.  My "map" is going to be the old people in my life.  The people who are doing the things that I believe has led (or will lead) to their joyful old age.  Bring on the mentors!!

1. Honey and Tom - My parents will be my health mentors.  Tom walks every day in order  to "run fast and jump high" and  Honey is the healthy eating guru!! Health is important!

2. Aunt Ruth - My aunt has created the most serene, tidy, comfortable home!! I love sitting on the porch swing in her backyard.  She loves her family and her family loves her!! Home and family are important!

3. Bobbie McGraw - Bobbie loved people.  She invited friends of every age group and background to her table.  She was gracious and inclusive. Friends are important!

4. Hasson, Jamie, Stephanie, and a host of others - These ladies serve their neighbors. I used to think that I was exempt from John 15:13 since I would likely have no chance to die in the place of another person, but that's not all that verse means.  It also means that every time you interrupt what's going on in your life  and give your time for the benefit of another, you are literally "laying down your life for a friend". Service is important!

5. Hittie, Carolyn, Dalerie - Sweet Bible teachers! If I ever hope to sail into old age's quiet and pleasant waters, I better set a course straight for Christ by following in the wake of these ladies' ships, even though they are steering ocean liners of faith and I am in a dinghy!!!!  Faith is important!!

So there you have it!  My sister asked me if I had made any New Year's resolutions and I guess, in a way, I have - I'm going to start getting old! :)

                                                                                              Love ya'll,
                                                                                              Shelli

Old age is like everything else; to make a success of it, you've got to start young.

- Theodore Roosevelt