Getting older has its ups and downs.
I'm pushing now into my mid-sixties. While I'm in pretty good shape, I find myself growing annoyed more easily, such as when I make a rare foray into town and, when standing at a crosswalk waiting for a light to change, a bevy of Cub Scouts rushes up to help me across the street. My wife doesn't get that treatment, but that's probably because 1) she's five years younger than me, and 2) we have the marriage of Dorian Gray; every year I get older and uglier, and she's still just as cute as when we first met, when she was 25.
Aging comes with certain changes you never expected, like being able to get along without hanky-panky than you can get along without your glasses. After all, without my glasses, the odds of a tumble down the stairs is increased, which isn't a risk when... well, you know.
So, let's discuss, briefly, some of the good things about getting older - and the not-so-good things.
With age comes wisdom, presumably. It's true that I often reflect on what a 25-year-old me with my 60-something brain would have been like, and I would have been a force to reckon with. Youth is wasted on the young, in no small part because the young lack the decades of experience that come with just managing to hang on to this spinning rock in space for a few more years.
With age, you supposedly have more time. That's true. Back in my jacket-and-tie days, it seemed like I was always rushing off somewhere; one time it was to South Africa, on 72 hours notice. No longer. We rarely leave our Alaska homestead, and while I spend a lot of time writing here for all you wonderful readers, that's something I do because I love doing it, and it's true, what they say - do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.
Marriage, at least for those of us who have good marriages, gets better with time. There's a reason they call these the golden years. My wife and I, spending sometimes a week or more where we never see or speak to another human, get along better than we ever have. We just have a lot of fun together, and part of what makes that work is the decades of work, of fun, of kids born and kids grown, and so on.
Money. Yep, if you're even halfway responsible, you've accumulated some net worth, and money isn't the constant niggle it was when you were a young adult.
Sleeping. As we age, most people (certainly us) go to bed earlier and get up earlier. In most places, that makes for some lovely mornings; I know a lot of people around my vintage who would attest that they saw more sunrises between the ages of 60 and 70 than they did between 15 and 45.
You can blame anything on your age. Forget your spouse's birthday? Age. Forget to stop at the post office? Age. Forget to put the toilet seat down? Age.
And finally, old age and treachery will beat youth, speed, and strength every time. We know how to fight dirty because we've done a lot of it.
See Also: My Milestone Birthday: Can We Make 60 the New 40?
Now, the disadvantages:
You can pretty much stop worrying about giving in to temptation. Temptation isn't tempted by you anymore, and even if you were to give in, most of the time, it just wouldn't be worth the trouble.
Eventually, you stop lying about your age. You start bragging about it instead. Of course, there's another angle to that. I remember when my father turned 90, he stopped reading the obituaries in their daily newspaper because everyone in them was younger than he was.
Your brain cells start to die off slowly. But that's a blessing in disguise, as the weaker brain cells die off earlier, leading to an overall increase in capacity. That's called "wisdom."
Your doctor starts telling you, "You know, you're getting to the age where..." Nothing good ever follows that statement.
You find out that the term "aging gracefully" really means "not giving a crap any more."
In conclusion, for those of you who are, like me, a bit long in the tooth, I'll leave you with this advice: Don't let your age get you down. It's too hard to get back up.
