My wife, daughter and mother-in-law have been taking turns poking fun at my recent litany of aches and pains. I take it goodnaturedly but I’m not clueless to the fact that there’s more than a small amount of ego involved in my determination to stay fit.
And then this from Kent Nerburn’s weblog on aging: “The look that I saw in the eyes of both those older men in the past two days was a look of people who know they are societally irrelevant, but know that they understand something essential that the rest of us have yet to comprehend…
If we long for anything, it is usually a time past, when we were younger and not yet shackled by some of the crazy decisions we have made. We seldom long for a future where our bodies are less, but our spirits and insight are more. Yet, that future is there. It’s in the eyes of those who have lived longer, seen more, and come closer to a resolved understanding of their place and purpose on this planet. “