Aging Gracefully?

A beautiful friend of mine posted a status on Facebook the other day that got me thinking. She was reflecting on something that we all face at some point. 

Aging. 

She began her post with this thought "I just realized that I am wearing a Star Wars T-shirts and ripped jeans, eating Hot Tamales, yet I have lots of gray hair, still get hormonal zits and I'm almost 37 years old.

Growing older is weird." 

Man I could so relate to her words. She might as well have been describing me. I have been sporting "fandom" t-shirts, ripped jeans, converse and hoodies as my fashion mainstays for the majority of my adult life. I never stopped to consider at what age I might have to start dressing like, well, an adult. Which, let's be honest, will probably never happen, except of course for church functions, and even then I usually just wear a t-shirt and jeans. ;) What can I say? It's who I am. 

Moreover, I never really thought about reflecting on my own experience with aging. Her thoughts were so relatable. Her description of what it’s like was so dead on. Her words gave me pause to think about what the ride had been like for me thus far. 

So, naturally, I started typing up a "quick" reply that turned into a big, long blog post. Does that ever happen to you? It happens to me all the time. I start out thinking I'll make a quick post about this or that and it ends up being a novel. o.O 

At any rate, I wanted to share what I wrote with y'all because, honestly, we are going to be there someday if we aren't already. Finding ourselves in that “messy middle”, between youth and old age, where the lines on your face are increasingly less blurry than the beginning and end of the transition from one phase to the next. So, hey, I figure, why not talk about it? Right?

This is what I wrote...

“Oh you can totally pull off middle school fashion for at least another decade or two, or five. ;)

I will probably still be wearing "fandom" shirts and chucks when I'm 80. Hahaha And, seriously, I waited my whole childhood to be able to own a pair of holey jeans, so I'm not giving those up anytime soon. :D

It's funny, when I was a kid all I wanted was to be grown up. Well, that and a fighter pilot, but still... When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them that more than anything I just wanted to be "grown up".

I was so convinced that once I was a grown up, not only could I do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but I wouldn't get hurt by people anymore. Hahaha yeah...

I thought at 30 I was finally a "real" adult. I wasn't a young adult anymore! I was so excited and proud. I had finally achieved my ultimate goal! Then I started thinking "Now what?"

I don't know if I thought I would feel suddenly different overnight or what, but at 36 the only times I feel vastly different than I did at 13 are when I look in the mirror, or look at my babies. (That aren't babies anymore.)

The world is still confusing. I still get hurt. The idea of doing what I want when I want makes me laugh a little.

There are days when defying limits is easier than it was at 13, and yet sometimes I still feel trapped by them.

When I was a kid I never factored in wrinkles, how many years and how much work it would take to get back in shape after 3 kids, or that doing the things I love, like going camping or working on cars, would take so much more effort. I was sure acne would be a distant, foggy memory and that I would be confident in everything I did.

Age really is nothing more than a number that marks the anniversary of our first breath. It doesn't change how we feel, determine what we can do, or magically transition us into a more "enlightened" being. With age we gain experience, which gives us some measure of knowledge that will hopefully one day become wisdom that we can pass down.

The passage of time reminds us that our bodies are ever changing, transitioning from one phase to the next, yet we are never fully "there", we are somehow still in between.

Age can point us in the direction we are going but it isn't strictly linear. There are days when I feel like a little kid again, bursting with excitement for the adventures to come, and there are days when mortality looks me in the eye and I realize I am not as young as I once was. Though I know that my time could end at any moment, I still feel a pressing urgency to do the things I regret having not yet done as I watch the sand passing through the hourglass of my life.

There is one thing age certainly doesn't get to change... my remarkable fashion sense. ;) haha

All that to say, I am right there with you, and I am so thankful that God brought me a friend as honest, raw and real as you. It is comforting to know that I am not the only one who loves Star Wars t-shirts and ripped jeans. ^_^

*Now I have the urge to blog about this... you inspire me, friend. <3”

Indeed she does, and indeed I did.

As Tony Horton, one of the people that seriously inspires me, said "Aging is for people that don't know any better." 

We don't have to let the passage of time dictate our reality. We don't have to embrace the notion that "getting older" means we become "tired-less healthy-can't have fun-boring" people.

We may be on this sinking ship together, my friends, but we don’t have to lament the loss of what was, or resign ourselves to an unappealing fate, we can celebrate the remaining moments, rejoice in the time we have, embrace who we are, love one another, encourage the younger generations and show them that growing older doesn’t have to be scary or sad, it can be one heck of a ride!

Be blessed y’all.