AGING

Doris Day (1922-2019)

THE IMPERMANENCE OF LIFE

My surviving High School class of 1960 (Rough as Hell, twice as frisky) is turning 80 this year and getting some interesting comments on social media.  Coincidently, I stumbled across a post soliciting comments about aging and I found some of them very raw and insightful.  There’s no denying that we are in the fourth quarter of life at this juncture, but attitude has a big influence as always.  And so does reflection.

I also ran across these aging photos of popular screen actress Doris Day who was popular during our lifetime and starred along with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall in the 1959 hit, Pillow Talk.  She lived to the age of 97.  'You have to stay positive,' Doris told Closer Weekly. She cautioned that worrying is a waste of time. 'Whatever will happen, will happen.'

So, I copied and pasted some of the comments I found to be interesting, settled down with a Jameson and water and thought I would document what I discovered.  Here’s a few selections:

·          If you are not happy where you are, you probably won't be happy anywhere. --Age 80 and loving life.

·          Every phase of life is both challenging and rewarding. You can adapt, improvise and overcome or you can whine and suffer. Carpe Diem!

·         It is a strange part of the journey. Every day, instead of gaining strength and ability, you have to give ground step by step, lose friends and family, give up what you have gained in life. The final in your face lesson is impermanence.

·         It’s the indignity of being irrelevant, invisible, and disposable after a lifetime of value.

·         Becoming redundant is no crime, it is just a matter of retiring gracefully with replacement parts.

·         I find growing older is a process of taking in the realization that you have more freedom and time to explore opportunities. At times, you have to negotiate health challenges. Lack of dignity, relevance, independence and loss of friends can be the hardest part.

·         Best quote I ever heard was “growing old is a ceremony of losses”, having watched my parents age and pass I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

·         Age could be a reward for living well.  Attitude and faith make the difference.

·         It has become clear to me that aging itself does not bring wisdom. It often brings regression to childishness, dependency, and bitterness over lost opportunities. Only those who are still intellectually, emotionally, spiritually growing inherit the richness of aging. ~James Hollis

·         A life well lived is the best revenge.  And the measure of a life well lived is not having to look back with the regret of not confronting all of life’s challenges, regardless of the outcomes.

·         With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.