Throwback Thursday

If you age well, it is genetic. If you want to know how you will age, look at your parents. You will undoubtedly age like they do. Mama and her siblings always looked a good deal younger than they were. This continued to be the case until late in life. I got those good genes because all of my life, I’ve always been taken for much younger than I am. I’ve had a lot of fun with that. My children got those great genes as well. Both now in their midthirties, they could easily pass for 20-somethings.

When I was about 42 years of age, a board certified plastic surgeon at Emory told me, “Your face is aging very well.” Wow! I’ll take it. The reason I went to him is because I had a mole in the middle of my face. I was annoyed by it and wanted it removed. He took care of it.

Good health is easy to take for granted. But when something goes wrong, you’ll be very aware of what you’re doing and what your doctor tells you. Actually, I’m in very good health. I have asthma, wellcontrolled on a steroid inhaler. I’m active. I ride my bicycle all the time. I have a 15-mile workout ride I do on the Berry College campus. I think about all the health issues I do not have. I’ve never smoked and I do not have any cardiac issues at all. I do not have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol.

Like the rest of us, I am aging. I always thought I would handle aging like Mama and Daddy did, with grace and class. They handled everything life ever presented them with grace and class. My daughter recently said, “Mama, I’m sure Grandma and Papa put on a brave face for something that was harder than it looked.” Indeed.

Aging, deal with it. Hopefully we age well, which means our quality of life is good. We all know how to live a healthy lifestyle. However, most of us don’t want to do it. If we all live long enough … we all age. It beats the alternative, doesn’t it?