The question might be; did we grow up or grow out. I am
guessing there was some of both. We are older, somewhat wiser, certainly heavier
than those willowy teen years, and we cling to our youthful memories like bark
clings to a tree. We are in a chapter that we laughed at when we were young and
fearless. Grandmas’ with false teeth, Uncles grey haired and stooped, Aunts
with tight perms that looked like the nest of a bird. How we laughed. Well
certainly our older population does not quite fit the mold. We work out to some degree, we color our
hair, we fix our teeth, and more than a few get a little help from the plastic
surgeons. How we embrace this chapter of more limited mobility, as in dancing
the Twist to Chubby Checker, or running a marathon has a lot of variables but
there are some things there are no escaping, our bodies are older and more
worn.
The clever marketers have new labels for us, active adults,
independents, vibrant and anything that will entice us to embrace their
products. The realities lie a bit
beneath all that hyperbole. We have a deserved
reputation for being avid consumers and the peddlers are still out to get us.
The difference is that by now we live with realities that are not depicted in
their incessant commercials about the good life. It is a good life but for a lot of different
reasons.
The biggest tool in our bag of tricks for facing the
challenges of getting older is a sense of humor. It can carry us through a
myriad of circumstances that otherwise might have ignited us into a raging
fire. Where there were raised eyebrows and racing heart beats now there can be a
good belly laugh. That sense of humor can keep you younger than anything they
put in a bottle or capsule. I want to explore the daily challenges that come
upon us and how a sense of humor casts a light of guilty joy.
