Just Plain Bill
Age – is it only a number?
It’s been said that age is just a number
- or is it? While growing up, I remember having a problem waiting until I
achieved that “special” birthday: Ten was special, then 13 when I became a
teenager, on to 16 when I could legally drive, then on to 21, 30, 40 and now, that
special birthday coming soon when I’ll become an octogenarian.
Octogenarian.
I don’t know
many of them, and now I’m going to be one!
Eighty – an age that
sounds so old, with a plethora of limits and disabilities. I’m so fortunate to
be blessed by having lived all these “ages,” looking back on experiences,
accomplishments, and regrets.
I also look back
on all the people who have contributed to what I’ve become. Some lessons were easy
and some not so easy. To be completely candid, this “old dog” is still
learning “new tricks.” (I was certain that by the time I hit 80, there’d be
nothing left to learn the hard way.)
I’ve always been
good at remembering people, and the experiences we’ve shared, and for that I am
forever grateful.
In my early
years of teaching/training, I remember suggesting we tend to look at the time we
have left to “do” something as thinking of someone you know that’s twice your
age: you’re 25 and you know many people who are 50 – so you have “plenty of time.”
Then on to 30, still knowing many folks who are 60. But when you’re 40, just a
few are 80. And here I am.
There aren’t any
160 year olds, so, having been a “late bloomer”, I better get to doing what
I’ve wanted to do.
Time’s a
wasting!
