Generations and Ideas

The Greatest Generation is one of my favorite groups of people. It is my parents' generation, which is to say that my folks had me late in life, and I'll be an early senior generation at some point. Their generation, out of all the groups I've met (other than aborigines whom I haven't met), have had more preconceptions to dispel and ideas to challenge than any other group of which I am aware.

I had lunch with a friend from this generation, now in her mid-eighties, to find out her key, her secret to youthfulness in old age. She plays tennis daily, skis, and generally gets around. Her mind is sharp, and her heart is clearly glad. How is this possible?

Over lunch, we all talked about a whole lot of nothing. I waited, and listened. She'd tell me, I knew it, by accident or by my design. I was having a bit of trouble forming the question, however. How do you ask someone, "How did you get to be so old and vital at the same time?" Or, "What's the secret to growing old gracefully?" So, until I had it phrased right, I'd see if the answer just presented itself. It did.

In the midst of conversation, she said, "You know, I love being old." My mother nodded in polite agreement, but I could see that she wondered where this Pollyanna was going. My friend added, "People are so nice to you when you get old."

I had recently come to the conclusion that relationships are what it's all about. Maybe relationships aren't the meaning of life, but they are a good slice of living fully. So, it's tempting to see the "people are nicer" aspect of aging as the secret, but I wasn't fooled. The secret, as told by this friend, to aging youthfully is to love being old!

How very here-now of her. If we are constantly trying to be other than what we are, we drain all of the energy from our present selves. We so easily devalue who we are, really are, wrinkles and all. If we embrace who we are at each moment and enjoy it, we regain the vitality of each age.

So, the fountain of youth is simply a sentence away: I love being old.