As people approach their 60's, they tend to dwell a lot on aging.
On the one hand, I have some role models for "how one should age". For example, I had blogged recently about a restaurant in a neighborhood a handful of miles from where I live. That restaurant, Pete's Legacy Diner, is owned by a man who turned 80 in September. He has spent his life establishing restaurants, selling them, and going on to the next restaurant challenge. All but one of the restaurants he founded are still operating.
We ate at Pete's today and, as usual, he was there, seating customers, getting them coffee, making sure everything was running smoothly - without missing a beat.
How wonderful that must be. But on the other hand....
It's been a hard week for some people I know, or used to have an association with.
In the past two weeks, four people I know have lost a parent. One lost an in-law. We do expect the elderly to pass on. But not all of them were old.
One person (only in his early 50's) who co-founded a business I had an association with years ago, and was at the time of his death a co-worker of my son's, passed on. And, last but not least, a man who graduated from my spouse's high school three years after my husband passed on, again, just in his 50's.
More and more, death and aging are on my mind. Not that I dwell on it, but I have to notice, and I do think about it. And about the people who never got there, who died too young.
I want to be able to age with grace. Now I have to figure out just now to do it.
Any ideas?
Do you want to age with grace or disgracefully???? Are you wanting to find something that people know is part of you? Do you want to be remembered for something in particular? I know I'm starting to do something that I am interested in which is Kiva, an organisation that does loans to people who would never get a "normal" loan. I am asking my friends to join in and I'm asking people to give me a voucher for that for Christmas so that I can give more money to this. This is something I want to build on and continue....I am also looking at doing other things in this field...I have decided that I need to be doing small things to help organisations that do this...I haven't worked out how I am going to push it...but it's something I am working on....it's what I want to be remembered for...the quiet work of helping other people
ReplyDeleteI, for one, do not dwell on death and dying. Maybe because my parents have been dead for a while. And, while they both died young (I am approaching their age), I have wonderful children that keep me mentally young..
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