Settle for

I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, midlife for an elephant , and ancient for a sportsman, Fifty is a nice number for the states in the US or for a national speed limit but it is not a number that I was prepared to have hung on me. Fifty is supposed to be my father's age. but now I am stuck with this number and everything it means. A few days ago, a friend tried to cheer me up by saying, " Fifty is what forty used to be . "He had made an inspirational point, Am I over the hill People keep telling me that the hill has been moved, and I keep telling them that he high-jump bar has dropped from the six feet I once easily cleared to the four feet that is impossible for me now. " Your are not getting older, you are getting better . " says Dr. Joyce Brothers . This, however, is the kind of doctor who inspires a second opinion. black prom dresses And so. as I approach the day when I cannot even jump over the tennis net. I am moves to share some thoughts on aging with you. I am moved to show how aging feels to me physically and mentally. Getting older. of course, is obviously a better change than the one that brings you eulogies. In fact , a poet named Robert Browning considered it the best change of all : Grow old along with me! The best is yet to me. yellow prom dresses Whether or not Browning was right , most of my first fifty years have been golden ones, so I will settle for what is ahead being as good as what has gone by. I find myself moving toward what is ahead with a curious blend of both fighting and accepting my aging, hoping that the philosopher was right when he said . "Old is always fifteen years from now. "