Screw Society Telling Me Young Is Better! I LOVE Getting Older!

No kidding, I love getting old. In this age of fixation on youth and staying young at all costs, I've decided to celebrate the process of aging.

I was born in 1955 among the last of the baby boomers. Our parents lived through the Great Depression and the World War II, and we were born in the subsequent ecstasy of the peace and prosperity that followed.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. I've lost my bikini figure and my hair has gone gray. Media is screaming at me, telling me that younger is better, that I have to lose weight and get in shape, and use all kinds of creams to trick everybody into believing that I'm younger than I am.

If that doesn't work, there's always surgery. A little nip here, a tuck there. It gives me the giggles.

The fact is that I love getting old. I love the experiences I've gathered up through the years and all I've learned from them. There has been so much laughter and joy, as well as pain and hardship, and all of it has made me who I am today.

I may have done some things differently if given the chance, but life is a glorious journey if we let it; even the worst things can have a positive connotation given time and goodwill. I know that things are rarely as bad as they seem and they have a way of working themselves out. It's a relaxing way of being in a world that sometimes seems to have gone crazy.

I've found that it's the little things that I appreciate most. My grandson's smile when I come through the door and his voice saying, "Grandma, come look!" or the smell of newly mowed grass. Yet, at the same time, I celebrate having enough experience to see a bigger picture.

There's not a lot that fazes me anymore. In 2012, when it was rumored that the world was going end, I sat back and chuckled. Being as old as I am, I've seen it before. I know that doomsday prophecies don't usually come true. Even if it did, life and death for me are in the same cycle, both equally natural.

I know that while money is important, in the end, the thing that really counts is love. Spending all your time in the office can make your bank account bulge, but your heart suffer from starvation. I know that no matter how bad the circumstances are, it's always possible to gain something good from them, at least in the long run.

And I know that taking oneself, or life, too seriously takes the fun out of it; life is supposed to be fun, so chill. Do what you have to do, but don't let it get to you.  Life is too short and precious to throw away worrying about it.