Thursday, October 23, 2008

There was an old woman . . .

When I was a young girl, I often wondered about the kind of old woman I would become. In these musings, Elderly Me usually had long, white hair that I would wear in a braid. She was the author of several best-selling novels, and lived comfortably off the royalties. Healthy well into her 90's, she would die peacefully in her bed, and her life would be celebrated by hundreds of people.

The Me of today has a more realistic view of the aging process. Currently in my 30's, I have back pain, poor eyesight and tinnitus, and I cut my hair short years ago because it was too much of a bother to wear it long. Now when I think about the Me of retirement age and beyond, I wonder if I'll even make it to old age. And if I do, I'll more than likely be the cranky old lady who gets arrested for stealing balls from the neighborhood kids.

4 comments:

Angie Ledbetter said...

LOL! My daughter tells me I'm gonna be the crazy old cat lady of the neighborhood (even though I really don't like cats at ALL).

I won't tell you what's ahead for you in the 40s. Ug!

Lori said...

Segment on The Today Show this morning showed aging and what it's like to age. Check it out on their website - it was eye-opening. Since there are somewhere around 32 percent of Americans in their 80s and most of us are headed there mighty quickly, it's well worth seeing.

Amie said...

I'll check out the Today Show segment, but I already know what's in store for me. All I have to do is look at my mother, and I know exactly what I'll look like, act like and feel like twentysome years down the road!

Inge' said...

since i can't seem to quit smoking for any length of time, i will be the old lady with white hair, a red slash for lips with a really long skinny cigarette dangling from them.

how pathetic is that?!

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