Is Old Age Such a Bad Thing?

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My friend and I were discussing Downton Abbey a few weeks ago and agreed on how pleased we were that Maggie Smith looked like a genuine, wrinkled, saggy, old lady. As we talked, we realized one of our favorite aspects of British television is that many programs star actors and actresses who are middle-aged or old.

It seems like American television is overly populated with the young, thin and beautiful, but our U.K. brothers and sisters acknowledge that one can be over 40 and still be a viable human being with an interesting life.

I watched a program on network television last night that featured an actress I remembered seeing regularly in the 1980s when she was probably about 35. That would put her firmly in her 60s now, and she looked seriously bad.

Not because she looked like a real woman in her 60s - sags, bags, wrinkles and all - but because she looked like a woman in her 60s who was trying to look like she was a woman in her 30s. She possessed that sad, sad appearance that accompanies too many facial surgeries. Poor thing, I thought. In order for you to find any work in the U.S. you probably feel compelled to constantly shore-up that sagging flesh on your face and body.

I'm not too happy when I look in the mirror anymore either, but you can't fight time and gravity forever. I plan to keep on living, loving, learning and having a good time despite the sags and wrinkles.

Maybe that's one of the biggest advantages to never having been beautiful, you don't have so far to fall:)

Good-bye Walt

Walt went to be with the Lord this week.

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I don't know how old he was, but I think he was in his 80s. I met Walt several years old while volunteering at our local senior citizens center. Walt taught square dancing to the seniors.

I met up with him again at a 4-H adult leaders meeting, and we asked if he'd be interested in teaching square dancing to our group which contained kids from elementary through high school. He was more than willing to teach this assortment of lively kids and their less than graceful mothers/leaders to square dance.

What impressed me most about Walt was his ability to interact with the teens. He treated them as equals and intelligent human beings, and they loved him for it.

When I shared the news of his death with my sons, we all felt a sense of sadness and loss even though we haven't seen him for a few years.

Walt is one of the people I consider a role model for living life as an involved, active senior citizen. I never heard him talk about himself, his ailments or the limitations age inflicted. I know many men and women in their 70s, 80s and 90s and have noticed how some become consumed with themselves, their past and their health. Walt was one of the wonderful exceptions.

My hope is that the lessons I've been learning about old age - the positive and negative messages - will soak into my soul so that when I reach that stage I can live like a Walt and be remembered with respect and affection.