AGING CAN BE FUN?

“It really IS funny to see an adult looking all around the room for her glasses without noticing that they are on top of her head.” Helen Heightsman Gordon, Age is a Laughing Matter

Is it possible that growing older can be fun? Perhaps our negative expectations have something to do with our experiences. Since my friend, Joan, turned forty (at least 18 years ago now) she laments the aging process every chance she gets. She defines it solely as the breakdown of the body and its functions. As a result, she seems to be creating more discomfort for herself all the time---more aches, more pains, more visits to the doctor. She has been, for years, expecting life to be miserable when she came closer to 50. Joan reminds me that letters “F-U-N” are the first three letters of “funeral”!

On the other hand my over 70 friend Tita, talks of what is exciting, fulfilling and fun in her life. If she has aches (and I’m sure she does), she doesn’t focus on them. She travels, she reads, she laughs and she nurtures her relationships with her friends, her children and grandchildren

As for me---I’m looking forward to becoming more and more outrageous, aches and pains and all.. In her book, Be An Outrageous Older Woman, Ruth Harriet Jacobs says, “As I grew older, I learned that if you are outrageous enough, good things happen. You stop being invisible and become validated.” Right on, Ruth!

If I someday need to walk with a cane it won’t be an ordinary one. I’ll paint it red and white to look like a candy cane. If I must use a walker it will be equipped with a bicycle horn. Beep, beep---out of my way! If the arthritis in my hands bothers me, I’ll wear green, polka-dotted mittens in the winter. I think aging can be an outrageously creative experience if we stop focusing on the funeral and focus on the fun instead. What do you think?