" A Watch In The Night..."

To age is to learn the feeling of no longer growing. Struggling to do the simplest of things; trying to remember familiar actions because the cells in the brain are being destroyed by thousands of unfelt  tiny strokes  
 Little pockets of clotted blood wiping out memories and abilities without warning.
Our bodies betraying us by aging; wrinkling, faltering, failing with time.
The body seems slowly to give up.
Hands become clumsy; skin becomes thin and dry and loses elasticity.

Hair grays, whitens..thins.  Wounds take longer to heal.

And finally, our youthful multi-layered torsos wither like the petals from a faded red rose.

Must I go on? Hearing becomes weaken because of nerve cells fibres lost and in the eye, the lens loses its elasticity as well.

At some point in your life you say, "Wait a minute, how did I get this old?"

Everyday when you look in the mirror you recognize yourself, but when you go back and look at photos, some of us say, "What the Hell???  This is me????

You can't believe that much TIME has gone by.                                          


                                       

                                                             

                                                               
 I believe there is nothing to prepare us for the experience of growing old.  Living is a process, toward old age and eventual death.

And at times I am afraid to grow old--I think we're all afraid.  Chronic illnesses, limited strength, less food, less sleep and finally fixed incomes, as most of your money goes to medications.

                                       

When I look at the elderly here in these pictures I am reminded of the movie/book 'Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone.'  In one part, young Harry encounters a large "magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame."  There was an inscription craved around the top:  "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."  Translation: "I show not your face but what your hearts desire."

                                     

Sadly, we now live in the land of the young.  I believe cultural attitude is changing.  Pushing that youth is best; treating the old like outcasts, as if they/we are invisible.  It seems that the division of space is being drawn as technology advances.

...And forgetting what growing old means---  RESPECT.

I see that my generation will be the last to know old people as friends, courtesy, and that grandparents ARE an important part of the family and community.  They/we are "living history."

To have a sense of what growing old means. To respect and understand man's mortality, his journey and the stories passed from generation to generation.

I know  that the tone of this blog sounds depressing, like the grim reaper. Albeit, time and the aging process are not the destroyer...the devourer.  It is ultimately up to us to "Keep your face always toward the sunshine-and shadows will fall behind you." ~Walt Whitman.

 "Someone once told me that Time was a predator that stalked us all our lives.  But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again.  What we leave behind is not as important how we lived." ~Star Trek: Generations.

                                                 

"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place
In all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting, thou art GOD.
Thou turnest man to destruction;
And sayest, "Return, ye children of men."
For a thousand years in thy sight
Are but as yesterday when it is past,
And as a Watch In The Night....~From the Bible, Psalm 90

And so it is~LJAS