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Health & Fitness

Getting Older is not a Felony…It's Just a Misdemeanor.

I know I'm getting older because every day my newspaper has a new date on it... Time passes and life happens; that's how it is....

Getting older is not a felony…it’s just a misdemeanor.

I know I’m getting older because every day my newspaper has a new date on it.

My orange juice no longer comes in a carton but instead, a bourgeois, plastic carafe.

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The box of Twinkies I bought right after college just expired.

Filling my gas tank, today, cost more than I paid for my first car.

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The only person I used to know with a mobile phone was Maxwell Smart....

Time passes and life happens; that’s how it is.

If you’re philosophical you might ask, “Why does life happen?”

If you’re not philosophical...you probably have a good job...and you say, “Life happens so we have something to do and someplace to go when we get out of bed”.

And if we get older in the meantime…so be it, because getting older is nothing to worry about. 

However, not getting older is definitely something to worry about.

So why is it that we all angst over every new birthday?

It wasn’t always that way.  When we were very young—like 5-6 or 7 young—all we wanted to be was older. Old enough to go to the movies by ourselves, ride the roller coaster, stay up past 9.

When we were 13-15, we wanted to be older so we could grow a beard or wear a bra; get a driver’s license and drive a car. 

If you wanted to grow a beard and wear a bra, you were probably my 9th grade algebra teacher.

Even at 20, we still wanted a little age elevation so we could be done with school, make money and get on with our lives.  But…even at 20, we started thinking how odd it seems not to be able to attach “teen” to the end of our years.

And so it began…the wary look towards the future as we began to feel the tickle of the past slipping away.

We whispered, slow down world…slow down…at least just a bit.

Now, as most of my closest friends and I approach and reach 60, we say…

“HIT THE DAMN BRAKES, WORLD… HIT THE DAMN BRAKES!!!!!!!” 

At least just a bit.

But I assume that’s a normal reaction…maybe.

When a friend of mine lamented, shortly before he was to turn 30, some 28 years ago, that the prospect was at best deflating and at worst defeating, I recall responding with the optimistic wisdom of one who had already....

For the rest of the story, or to just kill a couple of more minutes while you're waiting for your family to finish lighting your birthday candles, please Click Here....

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