An Attitude of Gratitude # 8

I am grateful for the fact that I am getting older.  Even if I do hate being referred to as a 'senior' (for goodness sake what is that, I'm not old enough for that, not yet anyway - give me another ten years and then we might talk again!).

This morning I looked at my reflection in the mirror as I brushed my teeth and I wondered (yet again), just who that person is that peers back at me.  Nobody that I recognise, that's for sure.  (It might help if I put my glasses on!  Without them, my world is slightly out of focus nowadays.) 

That said and done... I'm healthy and for that I'm truly grateful.  The alternative is rather too final.

Which is what this post is about really.  I try (very hard) not to keep track of the dates my friends and family have chosen to leave this world on. It's just a personal thing.  I believe we should celebrate their lives and not their passing. That doesn't mean I don't think of them.  I do.  A lot.

So many of them fought so hard for their lives. It's those people I want to remember particularly today.

Do you think for one moment that they wouldn't have cherished the fact that their hair was turning gray; that there were more and more 'crinkles' on their faces; that their bodies were heading South and that their bones creaked and groaned?  I so know that they would have loved to hang around to watch the process.

It's just my opinion, but I reckon that those of us who are blessed enough to grow old(er) owe something to those who have had to leave early.  We owe it to them to make the most of the moment!  To enjoy the things that are 'real'.  It's not a privilege one should ever take for granted.

So, for goodness sake celebrate your birthdays in style!  No more keeping 'stom' about the 'dreaded' day (are you nuts?).

Allow your inner child out to play again!  Eat chocolate cake for breakfast (a family tradition I intend to introduce my littlest chickadees to!), blow out (lots) of candles, remind your family that you expect to be spoilt, don't do any housework and leave the cooking to someone else.  Oh, and don't forget to tell your family you love them! It's important.

April Blackbird