Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have
always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my
body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often
I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I
don't agonize over those t hings for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving
family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've
become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become
my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie or for not making my
bed. Or for being messy, or too extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before
they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until
4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50's & 60's
or wha tever, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost
love ... I will.