Age · Coronavirus · family · Life Lessons · My Thoughts

How Do We Age? How Did I Get Here?

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How do we age? How did I get here? This last week, a phrase haunted me, “Age crept up on me.” I turned 67 years old this summer—not old in today’s world, but. . .. So, naturally, I wrote a poem.

Shadows of age

As I look back over my life, I remember my mom and dad in their late 60s, and I was in my 40s and 50s when they were my current age. They were active and full of life but appeared much older than I feel today—interesting.

Going back another generation to my grandparents when they were in their 60s, they seemed ancient. So, it’s all perspective, I guess.

I do know today, I have arthritic aches and pains and troubles with my stomach, but I don’t feel 67. So that begs to ask, what does 67 feel like?

I’ve seen 6 decades plus come and go—a multitude of advances. The TV was just coming in when I was a child, so I’ve always had a TV. We didn’t get a phone in our home until I was about ten years old, so I’ve had some sort of phone for most of my life. I touched my first computer in 1981 when I was a student at Colorado State University and have had access to one ever since—39 years!

And that phrase, “Age crept up on me” caused me lots of wandering through my life.

Shadow of age
Photo by Nadi Lindsay from Pexels

Here’s my poem that came out of this week’s musings:

Age Crept Up on Me!

August 12, 2020

Only yesterday, I was 16
            It seems
 
You may laugh
            My age shows
                        In wrinkles
                        Years lived
                        Dyed red hair to hide the grey
                                    With white
                                                Escaping near my eyes
 
Something happened!
            An acceleration
                        Of time
                                    Of minutes
                                                Of years
                                                            Recently
 
Is it a side effect of the coronavirus?
            Too much time on my hands?
                        Pondering my existence
                                    In uncertain times?
 
I remember 18
            High school graduation
                        Four students in my graduating class
                                    Started kindergarten together
            Trinidad State Junior College
                        Fifty miles from home
            Anxious about my future
                        And how my dreams
                                    Would play out
 
I remember 20
            Newly married
                        With life and dreams
                                    Spread out before me.
                                                Hopeful and positive
 
I remember 30
            Divorced and devastated
            At the university as a student       
                        And
                                    Starting over
                                                With dreams of being a teacher
 
I remember 40
            In sexual trauma treatment
                        For incest
                                    Uncovering and recovering from
                                                Childhood pain
                                                            And dashed dreams
 
I remember 50
            Celebrated at
                        The National Square Dance Convention
                                    In Oklahoma City
            Serenaded at our After Party by
                        Jerry Junck
                                    Mike Hogan
                                                Lanny Weaklend
            Still dreaming
                        About possibilities
 
I remember 60
            Mom had just died
                        A feeble celebration in Branson
                                    With Bub, Lin and Jackie
            My dreams diminished by the pain
                                    The loss
 
Yes, you see
            I’m not 16
                        But 67!
 
I look in the mirror
            And recently
                        Somehow
                                    Age crept up on me
 
In that reflection
            I see years
                        Life
                                    Experiences
 
Received no warning,
            No alarm,
                        I see an older woman,
                                    A matured lady,
                                                A seasoned Larada
 
Where did the years go?
            Fast living
                        A rich life
                                    A multitude of adventures
 
Yes, age crept up!
            Quickly
                        Relentlessly
                                    Quietly
                                                Without warning
 
So be aware
            It can and will
                        Happen to you!
Photo by Edu Carvalho from Pexels

My hope and prayer is that I continue to age gracefully and with spunk! I hope to redefine any concepts you may have about older adults.

What are you thoughts on aging? Has it crept up on you, too? How do you handle it?

Flippo's biography

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Published by Larada

Larada Horner-Miller is a poet, essayist and accomplished multi-genre author who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in Spanish and a master of education degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. She is the accomplished author of six award-winning biographies, historical fiction, memoir, and poetry works plus three self-published cookbooks. Her sixth book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, is available in paperback and four e-book formats. Larada offers the reader the opportunity to look back at 2020 and the global pandemic through her prose and poetry through reading, then reflecting and responding. She addresses all the emotions she felt during this overwhelming time and leads the reader through to a self-access: bitter or better? Her fifth book is the authorized memoir and biography of world-renown square dance caller Marshall “Flip” Flippo. Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo is available now in hardback, paperback and four e-book formats. Recently Just Another Square Dance Caller won two awards: Book Excellence Awards Finalist and Silver award for eLit. Book Awards. Another recent book of hers, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter's Grief Memoir has won many awards including being a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in the Memoir category at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and a 2018 Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award in the Memoir category. Horner-Miller has also been a past national presenter at the Women Writing the West Conference and is currently the creator of Memoir Workshops for others who want to share their family’s legacies through words. Larada and her husband, Lin, enjoy being nestled in the mountains above Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the village of Tijeras. When not writing books, this passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic woman loves to spend time kicking up her heels at square dancing gatherings, traveling, knitting, and reading. As co-manager of her family’s southeastern Colorado ranch, she enjoys spending time exploring her family’s historic ranch and reminiscing with her brother and his children about their mom, dad, and granddad.

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