As we grow older, our gait may slow, our muscles may weaken, our hair may gray — if any remains.  Our thoughts reflect on our life lived.  Fortunately, memory accentuates the good and suppresses the bad.  If one has been fortunate to recall a happy childhood, a loving marriage, or a successful career, then growing old becomes the next step in having lived a good life.  But if one’s life is speckled with unhappy periods, then growing old comes too soon and some needed balance must be added to the equation. Humor helps!    

My father often quipped about growing old:  “You know when you’re getting old when . . . :

— “Your back goes out more than you do.”

— “You and your teeth don’t sleep together.”

— “Everything hurts — and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work.”

Growing old, however, does provide some definite advantages.  Frequently, younger people allow the gray beard to step ahead in the restroom line —a place oldster’s rarely risk passing up; or to take the open seat on a crowded bus or train.  Most folks believe that an older head contains wisdom, but only if that older head can remember past experiences, for growing older often compromises the resiliency of one’s memory.  

Literature offers some wise reflections on the subject, a sampling:   

— “No wise man ever wished to be younger.”  Jonathon Swift (1667—1745), an English author, most famous for Gulliver’s Traveler’s (1726.)

— “Growing old —  it’s not nice, but its interesting.”  August Strindberg (1849—1029), a Swedish playwright

— “Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art.”  Stanislaw Jerzy lec (1909—1966), a Polish aphorist and poet. 

— “Never have I enjoyed youth so throughly as I have in my old age.”  Philosopher, George Santayana (1863-1952.)

I conclude with two more quotes from the most famous wag of all:

— “Do not regret growing older.  It is a privilege denied to many.”  Anon (unknown)

— “There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle.”  Anon (unknown)