He was sitting by me in my classroom at school, a cute little fellow, one of the very young ones. We were just talking about life, well as much as you can talk about life with a 5-year old, when all of a sudden he glanced up at me. With a very puzzled look, he put his warm little hand on my face and said in the sweetest and most endearing voice, "Mrs. Miller, how did you get to be so OLD already?" And you know, I wasn't sure what to tell him.
Perhaps he saw the "worry lines" on my face, the "crow's feet" by my eyes. Maybe he is like a couple of the other kids I know who love to rub my "grandma skin." Maybe he can just tell that I've been around the block at least 3 times in life. Whatever "clued him in" that I am no longer a "spring chicken", well, he's right in the fact that I am getting older. And that very sobering fact causes me to pause every single time I think of it.
Don't get me wrong friends, I accept the aging process for what it is--a natural progression in this thing called life. My skin looks older, the wrinkles in my face show up more, my eyes see a little bit dimmer, and my beautician does a great job in covering the stray "grays" that have already long been in plain sight. Yep, I look like the 56-year old woman that I am today, so much so that they have long since quit asking me if I want to have my senior discount at the local Wendy's....they just put it on for me. And for crying out loud, this is one time that I am so glad that I am NOT a "high maintenance woman"...for sure, it would cost, NOT pay.
My dear friends, growing older is a gift, a blessing from our God above and believe me, I'm reminded of it every single day. So often as the years in my life have flown so quickly by, I stop to think of the 2 siblings that I've already lost-my sister, Janice, who died at age 27 in an accident in 1969 as well as my brother, Mike, who died in 2007 at the age of 62 from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). Janice was so very young when she was killed and if she were alive today would have celebrated her 70th birthday this year. What would she have been like had things been different? Sadly, no one ever got the chance to ask HER that "mind blowing" question...."How did you get to be so OLD already?"
I often make mention in this blog about the "brevity" of life for us all, how in the "blink of an eye" it may well all be over. For me, growing older is "OK" but wasting even one more little bit of life than I already have, will NEVER be ok. After doing a little "progress monitoring" on the current status of the "Miller Bucket List", I decided to change things up a bit and tackle certain items each month from now until summer arrives once again. My hope is that I can remain focused on the things that I CAN do as "old lefty" heals up again and remove those things from my current list that could possibly do more damage to my arm before it has a chance totally heal. I am working on "version #8" and hope to have it ready to go this weekend. One thing I have for sure learned with a bucket list...you better be ready to be flexible because it's about as "fluid" as it gets. And before I go, one more thing!
To my dear little friend from this morning....a message .....
"How did I get to be this OLD already? Well, young friend...you see it's like this, plain and simple..ITS A GIFT~one that I truly hope that you get to unwrap one day as well. But thanks for asking...sometimes I forget just what a blessing it really is. Hey, I love you! Mrs. Miller"
Hey, I used to be a kid too! Age 8-Back in the day when the only worry I had was if that cute little boy in my 3rd grade class was going to chase me around the playground or not. Life was very good then~it remains a very good life now! It's all in perspective my friends, all in perspective. Good Night!
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