The obituaries and another 30 years!!

 I’m getting to an age where different things are making me pause and take note. For instance, I’m finding myself reading the obituaries in the Sunday paper. The people who are listed are strangers (usually) so why do I have this relatively new inclination to read the obituaries?? 

I think it might be due to the fact, that while I’m in good health, death is getting closer!!

I don’t want to die ... yet!  Last Sunday one of the listed departed souls had lived to be 103 years old.  I hope he was in good shape especially mentally! It did get me to thinking about my own mortality and the possibility of living to be 103!  That’s 30... really 30... more years! That’s a lot of years.

When I turned 30 I had lived in 5 countries, graduated from college, got married, had 3 children, spoke 3 languages, worked in a profession I loved, sang in choirs, swam in rivers, lakes and oceans, and much more!!! It was life well lived! 

I’m now 73 years old and it’s 43 years later.  It’s been good and the years have been incredibly full but life is slower and slower yet since retirement. 

As I contemplated living another possible 30 years, I asked myself what that might look like.  That is another lifetime, isn’t it?  It will be much slower paced than the first 30 years, of course, but what might it look like? Hearing? Sight? Thinking? Walking? Talking? Loneliness? The loss of any one of those things is scary and unappealing! 

SO- I pause to take note! There are so many TV advertisements for things to help us stave off a lot of the negatives of aging and they probably all help somewhat but only if you actually get up and do something!  

SO- I’m going to do what I can- reading, socializing, walking, singing, swimming, eating right, taking supplements, shopping, cleaning, driving, going to lectures and church, traveling, writing, discussing, gardening, composting, and more

... to stave off what I can- in order to make the next 30 years good years!