The Truth about Aging

When I think about how fast it has all happened, it sometimes takes my breath away. No, not really. That's actually not a true statement. Let me start again.

When I think about how fast it has all happened, it makes me somewhat melancholy. There, that seems to be a more accurate statement.

 Life, Living and Aging

That's what I'm talking about. Every single person reading this dissertation, has heard it before - "Enjoy life, it goes too fast" or something similar like, "enjoy your kids while they're young because they grow up so fast."  We all know it, but I want to talk about it.

I think that I think too much. I think about aging. I think about my existence on this earth, and I think about the relationship of time and how it affects everyone's life. Sometimes I think that most people don't normally have these thoughts, but rather go on day after day just existing. Eating, sleeping, breathing...living. Perhaps my move to a retirement community has made me think more about it. I suppose that being around people much older than myself has somehow made me more aware of the aging process and all of those things that accompany it, both good and bad.

My son Eric and I had a lengthy conversation recently about time. He brought it up. We talk frequently about such topics because, like me, he too is a pretty deep thinker. I'm not really sure how we got on that particular topic, but we did. Even though Eric is a much younger man than I, he gets it. I believe that he realizes just how fast time goes by, and also that time seems to speed up as man slows down during the aging process.

When I was much younger, I remember hearing my parents talk about age and aging. But like many young adults, I didn't really give their words much thought. I think that a person has to experience the aging process for many years, before it all really seems to make sense. Or maybe more accurately, it makes no sense. At times to me, it just seems to be sad. We are born. We live. We die.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not a sad individual or unhappy with life or anything that life has thrown my way.  In fact, I tend to be happy most all of the time. I've been this way for many years. I've been fortunate in my life to enjoy things that matter most, but it seems that there was a lengthy learning curve to get to that point. I was the guilty party who wished many times that my children would grow up so that I could recapture my life. What was I thinking then?

Sometimes I wonder if the very essence of how I lived my life, basically searching for the perfect partner and ideal living arrangements, has somehow provoked these thoughts that now flood my mind on a fairly frequent basis. The song lyrics, "I teased at life as if it were a foolish game - I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out" were written about me.

My lesson about life took me years to learn. I like the man that I have become, even though I am not rejoicing in the fact that it took me so many years. I like that I now take the time to appreciate the little things in life that years ago had little meaning to me. I like that I am content. I like that I have a tendency to like people. I like the calm that I now possess, even when my surroundings could easily dictate otherwise.

If I were to be given the opportunity to rewind my life and start over, I would only make a serious attempt to slow it all down. The content of my life was and still is satisfactory to me. The speed however, was much too fast. Life has been more than kind to me, and aging...well, I'm definitely aging.

I think that I think too much.

~Safe Riding~

-The Chief