Age has its privileges, as well as some disadvantages

If you have been a reader of this column over time, you are aware I am a fervent believer that a mere number (as in the years we have lived) should never determine what we are capable of and our aspirations for the future.

Too many seniors are prematurely terminated by their own birthdays. While yes, advancing age does require us to make some minor modifications in lifestyle, we should never stop setting new goals and dreaming new dreams. However, there are a few privileges, now that I have reached my late 80s, I feel I have earned.

First, I’m too old and my time too precious to spend it with spoiled, negative people. Take your complaints, self-absorption and bad manners elsewhere. Yes, there’s a lot that is wrong in this world; as senior sages, let us use the wisdom that hopefully the years have given us to join forces with the youthful optimists and work to make it a better place. Youth has the vision but we have the practicality that comes with experience.

I’m also too old to spend time worrying about things I can’t change, like a sagging chin line or expanding waist measurement. I exercise regularly, but the firm flesh of youth is gone and I’ve given up those expensive night creams and replaced belted clothing styles with loose, flowing fashions in pretty colors.

I am also too old to waste precious time doing things I truly dislike doing. I now give myself permission to eat at odd hours or not at all and to eat out quite often, since I never was a good cook.

I also am at an age when I refuse to worry about dust or a certain amount of disarray; I am too busy doing the things that are important to me, the things that bring me satisfaction and pleasure.

And I find that I am now more aware of the many simple things that do provide pleasure; the delightful weather that often occurs this time of year, the sight of a small child playing ball, the taste of that first, freshly brewed cup of coffee in the morning and my daughter’s unmistakable “Hi, Mama” on the phone.

It is sad but true that it requires the passage of a certain number of years before we fully appreciate the ordinary, everyday occurrences. I am also trying (not always successfully) to live very much in the moment and not worry about what the future may bring.

I am attempting to make some reasonable plans for an increase in age and a decrease in money without letting it overshadow present needs and pleasures. As we age, we tend to develop clearer priorities and have an ability to let go of the trivial.

Studies have shown that we become better at managing our emotions and suggesting compromises, traits which make us valuable and wise contributors to a democratic society. Heading toward the upper regions of my eighties, I know I have a limited amount of time left but I also feel certain that the best is yet to come.

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”