Growing Old...

First, in reading DH's previous posts, I am struck but what a good writer he is. Very articulate. I never seem to write what I mean to say, or else I end up writing something I didn't mean to say! But he can do it and I appreciate that it in him.

This particular sentence really sums him up in so many ways:

...it’s just that, when I’m not in the mood for it, I’m really not in the mood for it, and I react to those who are pretty much the way my father would react to them.

I love this blogging thing, because we are able to communicate things we might not have stopped to talk about. And this particular post makes me feel better about "us."

In yet another display of our incompatibility, I usually have a pie in the sky kind of mentality. I like to feel the joy and I try to find it. But, if DH knows I am excited about something, having fun with something, or even just happy thinking about something, he has a way of cutting through the joy to pull at my heartstrings to bring me back down to earth. Sometimes, I think he does this just to frustrate me or "burst my bubble" as I often say. What I didn't realize is that being with a bubble burster is frustrating enough, but BEING the bubble burster is probably equally, if not more, frustrating!

I found this quote that really resonates with me:

Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

I believe aging affects us in two ways: physically and mentally. There isn't a whole lot you can do about the physical. You can work out, eat right, get rest, but eventually it will catch up to you. I get that.

But the mental...the mental is definitely a state of mind. I believe we all have a choice here. You can choose to "be old." Be crotchety. Turn your nose up at behavior you perceive to be immature.

Or you can choose to be happy. Be curious. Be bold. Be adventurous. Be accepting that others have perspectives. You can believe the best is yet to come. You can accept that work is a necessity, but you don't have to make that work your life or let it negatively affect your every waking moment.

I think every experience is what you make of it. In fact, life is what you make of it.

Disclaimer: This post is in no way a criticism of critique of DH, it is simply random thoughts his post generated.