I’m 41 (today). (Really:).
I am no longer silent as I dress in the morning... If I’m not “oofing” when I lean down to put my socks on, my joints themselves will supply a steady stream of snaps, crackles, and pops on the way down the stairs. But hearing all of this reminds me I’m alive.
I no longer have a young man’s passionate energy... But wisdom has supplanted the wasted fire that I used to need to overcome obstacles.
I am not as fast as I once was... But I’m more agile because I can recognize the obstacles much further down the road.
My hair isn’t as brown as it once was... But the growing gray (white?!?) population of hairs is a badge of honor, signifying the battles joined and won that have shaped my life.
My eyes don’t see as well as they once did... But that gives me a reason to excuse the double-take on some young lady that my wife might catch! ;-P
Aches and pains? I’ve got them all... But one doesn’t turn one’s back on friends cultivated throughout a lifetime.
Is today your Birthday, 60Gunner?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both. I enjoyed your descriptions of aging. I’ll be 44 next month and I keep thinking that I’ll have to live to be 88 if I want to call myself middle-aged. I think that this is where I start having to accept that I’m on the down side of the hill.