Aging Gracefully

Seriously, there is nothing about aging that is graceful.

When we are really young, all we want is to be older so we can do what the "big kids" are doing.

When we are teens, we can't wait to be able to drive or drink, or just get out of our parents' house. We seek freedom!

When we are in our 20s, we dream of the future where we are completely independent of our parents and maybe married with children.

Then we hit our 30s and our bodies don't quite keep up with us anymore. We start noticing little things like not being able to stay up quite as late or drink quite as much as we used to drink, and still go to work the next day. We also start wondering why we wanted to grow up so bad.

Then we're in our 40s and we get "long-armed" disease where we now need glasses for reading, which leads to bi-focals or multi-focals, for many of us. We may even begin noticing that the weight we kept off for years is beginning to add up.

Then we're in our 50s and we're just not sure how we got this old this fast. We look back and remember what our parents were doing when they were our age, wondering how they did so much. We can't eat as much or drink as much or party as much as we once did without suffering for days after. As we age, our bodies begin to defy us in so many ways. Dancing the night away becomes snoring the night away.

Then, slowly we begin to look forward. We wonder what the rest of our years will bring. Will we live as long as our parents? Will we live longer? What will we be doing?

As we look toward that future, we begin making plans based on the aches and pains we feel now and we have a choice - will we collapse into the woes of our aging bodies or will we move forward with determination? We can choose to be as active as possible and keep dreaming the big dreams. We can move mountains (or at least mole hills). We can do this!

Then we hear that little voice in our head - "YO BE-ATCH! WTF were you thinking when you decided to ___________________(fill in the blank)?"