With Ages Comes…

My husband and I recently had a friend over for dinner and conversation. While together, another mutual friend entered the conversation and started talking about an upcoming move of theirs and stated he and his wife were looking at moving into the same apartment complex his Mom lived in. That alone, the idea of living in the same apartment complex as one’s parents, would not be a big deal. The part that caught me was that the apartment complex in mention is a senior living complex so, of course, my first thought was, “they can’t live there, that’s an apartment complex for old people”…and then it hit me…OUR FRIENDS ARE OLD PEOPLE!!!!

The logistics of this I think are fairly clear, if our friends are old people…well, that would make US old people, which would make ME an old person! I stopped as my mouth dropped open. For several seconds my mind ran and ran in circles trying to figure this out. That just can’t be! I’m not old!

A week before this I was at my Godson’s wedding. He and his beautiful bride tied the knot of love surrounded by many friends and family members. As I looked over at my brother, whose son was getting married it occurred to me we truly are now “the parents’ ‘ generation. I ran into people at the wedding that I went to high school with, who have adult children and grandchildren. I watched the incredibly beautiful young people, the age of the bride and groom who are in their mid 20’s, walking around laughing, in their fit and firm bodies, and their glowing youthful skin with their entire lives ahead of them and as I remembered being those people, I wondered where time had gone.

Where? Oh, where has the time gone?

It seems only yesterday I was the young woman at my friends’ weddings or toting around a small boy to Cub Scouts and school days.

It has gone so fast. They say “the days are long but the years are short” and no truer words have ever been said. In my body, yes, I have aches and pains and things that I can’t do as easily as I did 20 years ago, but I still think of myself as young with lots of time and ideas. Oh, the ideas!!!

A few days ago I was sitting in a meeting of what is simply called “Wise Women ”, a group of women sharing, all brought together by a dear Spirit who entered my life via my LampLighter group. This gathering is of women who are mostly past their childbearing days, and are in what I would refer to as “the Crone stage”. The wisdom of experience, of “been there done that”, the simplicity of the joy each experience in each magical moment of life, the beauty seen and felt in every single day, the JOY of knowing our true hearts passions and the purpose in the work that we each know is ours to do in this world. All of these things were experienced as pure gift. I believe the word is contentment. Contentment is NOT about being “done. These wise women; business owners, authors, department heads, practitioners, artists, these are women in their PRIME. With children grown and husbands or partners doing their thing, these women are free to truly thrive; with the clarity of experience, the wisdom of knowing what tends to work and what doesn’t, knowing people and the world, let me tell you there is something to be said for being OLD.

I find as I ponder,( and because I don’t have little kids running around, and I wasn’t out until 2 am last night, I can ponder) the glory of these past middle-age years.

There is grace in this process. Spirit knows what she’s doing. We Crone’s have incredible wisdom to share, we have time to help the weary Moms of littles, we have time to volunteer in our communities, we don’t care as much as we used to about what other people think, or if what we’re wearing is the latest trend, (we wore it the last time it was in style, we’re good) we’ve seen a thing or two in life and we’re just not thrown off course as easily anymore. As a dear friend of mine says, “I’m all out of shits at this age. I just don’t have any more to give” lol. It makes me laugh because it’s true!

People my age, CELEBRATE! Rejoice in this time of greater sanity in life! My young friends, know there is joy in your weariness and you too will get here! We still worry about our kids, we still pay attention to our health and all the things we did when we were younger, we just know now that things are not as big of a deal as we used to think they were. It all gets done, it’s all going to be ok, and yes, it does work out for the best.

Cheers to getting “old”.

Forever the Journey, Anne

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