Community Corner
Patch Pitch: Joys of Aging
I constantly read and hear about all of the good things associated with aging. It's just that I can't remember any of them right now.
It’s my birthday in a couple of weeks. Not one of the big milestone ones. But, if you look at life as a mountain that offers you 100 years (provided I am being very optimistic), let’s just say I am getting awfully close to reaching the summit.
Despite the harsh reality of what confronts me in the mirror every day — especially in direct sunlight (yikes!) — I still regard myself as “16 with 31 years of experience.” Or, as Oakland Athletics’ batting coach Chili Davis once said, “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.”
Harry Styles — teen boy-band (One Direction) heartthrob and rumored current paramour of singer, Taylor Swift had this to say about aging: “Age is a number. But maturity is a choice.” Considering Styles is only 18, I think it’s ludicrous he’s even trying to weigh in on the discussion. (However, I do find some solace knowing Swift will somehow manage to hurl his poser quote back at him when she pens their break-up song. Mark my soothsaying words. In less than six months, we are going to be singing along to a new Taylor Swift song with that quote pouring forth from our lips while she is already putting a down payment on a house next to her new suitor.)
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Luckily for me, with the exception of a few developing aches and pains, I really don’t feel old. Except maybe on those occasions (which are occurring far more frequently) where I try desperately to track down my glasses only to realize they are on my head. Or the times I go to the freezer in the garage and open it, only to find out I have no recollection of what I had gone out there to retrieve in the first place.
This happens a lot to me in grocery stores, too. Invariably, the one item that was my impetus for going to the store, remains the one item that fails to wind up in my shopping cart. And, I don’t realize it until after I get home. So, I head back out only to have the ugly cycle repeat itself again.
Thus, I have begun to rely heavily on the notes feature of my iPhone.
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All that aside, I constantly read and hear about all of the good things associated with aging. It’s just that I can’t remember any of them right now.
So, Patch readers, help me out and tell us, “What do you enjoy most about growing older? What do the golden years offer that we have to look forward to?
