AGING: Live for Today

by Sandra
(Washington St.)

Aging - is it all in the mind? I don't think so, considering how my body feels differently now that I'm 55 - at least, compared to when I was 25! Although in my heart, I haven't aged.

I still enjoy rock concerts. I love all the activities I loved in my youth - swimming, picnicking, writing, music - although my life has expanded greatly since those days.

I have memories, images, snapshots in time, from each year, each decade of my life. I was there, watching the first man on the moon, take that one giant step. I was there when Kennedy was assassinated. I was there when Nixon resigned, disgraced. I was there when Martin Luther King, Jr., marched in Alabama. History was created during the time I lived, as it continues to create itself even now.

I try to remember my mother, when she was in her mid-fifties... am I different from her? I hope.
To me, she was always old before her time. I swore I would never reach that stage of being old and tired. It's difficult to avoid! But I try not to show it, or feel it constantly.

At least my young adult children feel I am timeless, ageless, never-ending. Sometimes I wonder if now is the time I need to start taking care of myself properly, to ensure I continue through several more decades of life.

But as Jackie Kennedy once said - when diagnosed with fatal cancer - after all she did to take care of herself, all the sacrifices made to keep healthy - in the end, it ends. It doesn't matter. When our time is up, it's up.

So, as the old song goes, my motto is "live for today" - because tomorrow is just that.

Another day that might or might not exist with me. So here's to another day! And hopefully, another decade or two!