Old age, I decided, is a gift...I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I've always wanted to be...

Oh, not my body! I sometimes spazz out over my body..
The wrinkles, the baggy eyes, the big ass...

And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I ain't sweattin over those things to long...

As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, I've become my own friend...

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement geico that I didn't need, but looks so avant-guard on my patio...

I am entitled to overeat, be messy and sometimes be extravagant... I have seen to many precious people leave this world to soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging...

Who's business is it if I read a book, crochet or play on the computer until 4am and sleep til noon?? (Of course, anyone that knows me, knows I don't) BUT.... What if I did??

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's, and if I, at the same time, wish to cry over a lost love... I will...

I will walk the beach in a bathing suit stretched over this bulging body, and I will dive in the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances of the bikini set... They, too, will get old...

I know sometimes I am forgetful, but there again some parts of life are just as well forgotten... And I eventually remember the important things..

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken... How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when a pet gets hit by a car..
But broken hearts are what gives us strength, understanding and compassion.. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect...

I am so blessed to have lived long enough for my hair to turn gray, and to have my youthful laughs forever etched into deep grooves on my face...

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver... I can say " NO" and mean it and I can say "YES" and mean it....As you get older it seems to be easier to be positive...
You care less about what others think.. I don't question myself anymore... I've even earned the right to be wrong..

I like being old... It has set me free... I like the person I have become...

I will not live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be, but will continue to rejoice in what was....