On Aging

Last week I celebrated my 56th birthday with my family and friends.  I had a great time.  Getting older hasn't really bothered me too much.  In fact when asked what age I would be if I could be any age I choose, I said I would be 50 because at that age I have become comfortable with who I am, lost much of my insecurity, have become financially well-off, and have the good health to do pretty much anything I want to.  It is also a time in my life that the experience of a full career of teaching gives me confidence; I feel very comfortable in my professional life.  So aging has been a very positive process for me up to this point.

I realize that the future holds challenges.  I watch my mom and dad, aunts and uncles, and see that this is inevitable.  But as I watch, I have written here before about how I'm trying to think about the aging process and what lies ahead.  And I've been collecting some thoughts on this from other sources too.  

In a recent interview, Ann Lamott said, “Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life.  It has given me me. It has provided time and experience and failures and triumphs and time-tested friends who have helped me step into the shape that was waiting for me. I fit into me now.”

I would agree wholeheartedly with this statement.

Another interesting perspective comes Tyne Daly (of Cagney and Lacey fame).  She has let her hair go gray and says, “You know, my hair is very upsetting to people, but it’s upsetting on purpose. It is important to look old so that the young will not be afraid of dying. People don’t like old women. We don’t honor age in our society, and we certainly don’t honor it in Hollywood.”  I agree with her and someday soon I'm going to join her, and just let my hair be gray.  I'm just not quite ready yet.  What will be the appropriate age? 60? 65?  We shall see.




And just today I finished The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard (I've been working on this book for months, whew!).  Here's how he sums it up:

Aging, accordingly, will become a process not of losing, but of gaining.   As our physical body fades out, our glory body approaches and our spiritual substance grows richer and deeper.  As we age we should become obviously more glorious.  The lovely words of George MacDonald, once again, help us to imagine this crucial transition:
          
          Our old age is the scorching of the bush
          By life's indwelling, incorruptible blaze.
          O life, burn at this feeble shell of me,
          Till I the sore singed garment off shall push,
          Flap out my Psyche wings, and to thee rush."

These kinds of outlooks are not the norm today, but they are certainly thoughts that I want to cultivate, because I think they ring true with the idea of the new, continuing and abundant life we will find at the end of this one.

So...Happy Birthday to me!