I am not old...
These wrinkles are imprints of my journey
Today, I don’t know what to write. The muse is not flowing through. The weekly offering I give you has not appeared. I can’t push it to come, as I have promised myself not to do that; rather, to surrender into what is, than push when nothing wants to be coming.
I don’t know why this is. I’m not usually short of ideas, but the last few days they have not been showing themselves.
So I’m paying attention to that and instead for this week, I am sharing with you someone else’s words, that I find beautiful.
I Am Not Old
I am not old…she said
I am rare.
I am the standing ovation
At the end of the play.
I am the retrospective
Of my life as art.
I am the hours
Connected like dots
Into good sense.
I am the fullness
Of existing.
You think I am waiting to die…
But I am waiting to be found
I am a treasure.
I am a map.
And these wrinkles are
Imprints of my journey
Ask me anything.
~ Samantha Reynolds (www.bentlily.com)
“Old” is not a negative or dirty word…it simply describes a point in the life cycle when I am no longer young or middle-aged. I accept that I am closer to the end of my life than the beginning. While my thoughts, attitudes, and approach to life are not “old” or rigid, my body struggles and reminds me daily of where I am in my life cycle…and I am grateful for this. So many people are in denial that they will one day die, and believe talking about it will make it come sooner. It won’t. They are offended if they overhear someone say “that old lady over there,” just as I used to say when I was a teenager. At 75 I am filled with gratitude to be an elder, to have made it this far when so many haven’t…to have survived serious health challenges, life’s ups and down, heartbreaks, disappointments, and to have grown from all of them. In reality I am “old” but this does not define me. Living a life of meaning and purpose defines me.
Good to meet you here. I’m 84 and never been more alive. We should share some.