WRINKLES

WRINKLES

Gone is youth

Bearing confusion, illusion, indecision.

Doors open.

Fate whispers grab the moment.

No longer must I seek to find

The who, the why, the what of me.

I need not behave as others expect.

Freedom is mine.

 

Aging has me firmly in hand

When I no longer want to throw a snowball.

I’ve learned a mind lift beats a face lift,

It’s okay to shuffle slower if still have a full deck,

And the gray of my hair is no indication

Of  the age of my heart or my mind.

 

Wrinkles don’t hurt.

Whatever advice I offer is more thoughtful

Than what I might have said at 20 or 40

The first 40 years gave me the text:

The next 30 furnished the commentary.

 

I  still want to throw snowballs;

Catch fireflies;

Kick piles of autumn leaves;

Build sand castles.

I’ve given up climbing a tree.

 

How about you? Post a comment.

Julie Rose

editit601@gmail.com

UNREQUESTED ADVICE

UNREQUESTED ADVICE

Generally speaking it’s not a good idea to offer unsolicited advice but when you have lived 70+ you have learned a few things and it’s difficult not to share what you have learned with your loved ones. It’s unfortunate that some of those things are learned too late.

Had I known earlier in life what I know now, there are things I would have done differently. In the hope that my children and grandchildren wouldn’t make the same mistakes I made, I wrote them a letter a while back and told them what some of those things were. Here are about half of them:

• I would have home schooled my children.
• My home would have been filled with good music and there would have been firm, restrictive, rules on the use of the TV. I might have thrown it out.
• I never would have started to smoke.
• I would have worked harder to develop and maintain friendships.
• I would have lived abroad for at least a year, explored the world’s great museums, wandered in Tuscany,  attended an opera in Rome, a concert in Vienna.
• I would have made one more trip to Israel and participated in an archaeological dig.
• I would have learned to play the piano.
• I would have studied Latin.
• I would have adopted a child.
• I would have become reasonably proficient at some sport,  probably tennis.
• I would have returned to school and earned my doctorate. I can’t tell you why.
• I would have taken classes in photography, bought a decent camera, taken long walks in a forest and photographed flora and fauna.
• I would have spent more personal time with each of my children. I might even have bit the bullet and gone shopping with my daughter.
• I would have encouraged each of my children to become proficient at some musical instrument.
• I would have taught my children to play Bridge.
• I would have taken my kids to the opera and the theatre more often than I did.
• I would have worked harder to have my books published, completed two unfinished novels and written a cookbook.
• At least once I would have owned a convertible – car not couch – a red one.

There’s more but those are primary. Whether or not my children and grandchildren will benefit from that letter is open to question. Probably not. Their goals may be far different than mine but at least the letter gave them some insight into the woman who is their mother and grandmother.

What would you include in such a letter?

Julie Rose

julierose601@gmail.com