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Showing Original Post only (View all)No One Really Tells You The Hardest Part Of Getting Older [View all]
https://medium.com/middle-pause/no-one-really-tells-you-the-hardest-part-of-getting-older-ddd4ec40dc81?source=email-725dd54fb926-1685600114662-digest.reader-22bdccd3fa4-ddd4ec40dc81----0-102------------------62474da4_1586_4c36_bc86_c5b757f661dc-1(snip)
I asked Mom, once, why she never became a nurse after the kids grew up. She sighed and said twelve-hour days had no appeal to her anymore. She did enough of those as a mother. I nodded. Understood.
What do you do then, with your pockets empty of dreams?
If youre one of the lucky ones, you find a new dream.
Most people dont.
They just fill their hours with television and routine. Know what the top regret of the dying is?
They wish theyd had the courage to live a life true to themselves instead of doing what other people expected them to.
I cant die that way. I cant.
But I dont have to. Julia Child started cooking at 51. Laura Ingalls Wilder started writing the Little House books at 65. Grandma Moses didnt pick up a paintbrush until she was 77.
I still work, because of divorce, inflation, and bills.
I still push the mawing beast, because houses dont clean themselves.
And so I sit, typing as the sun sinks behind the old maple tree outside my window and wake with the robins to draw in the early morning light.
I may well die wishing Id worked a little more.
I dont know
(snip)
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You just don't know how much time you're going to have to spend on repair and maintenance
Walleye
Jun 2023
#2
My biggest regret is not living in another country (or two) when I was younger.
Lonestarblue
Jun 2023
#7
I found the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow. The doctors got all the gold.
Wonder Why
Jun 2023
#11
No one is ever too old to be creative, or too old to learn. And that creativity
highplainsdem
Jun 2023
#14
There is an existential essence to what you've expressed which I won't presume to address.
Magoo48
Jun 2023
#19
Diamond Dog, thank you for posting this. I think you may have just saved my life.
LaMouffette
Jun 2023
#25
And when I retired at 50, people couldn't understand why I didn't have a job.
Midnight Writer
Jun 2023
#65
My life has been all about what people expected of me. I had a window opened once, a decade ago,
chia
Jun 2023
#51
One of the things I love about being retired ... I'm finally able to own a dog
FakeNoose
Jun 2023
#67
I'm 80. This weekend was spent with the kids and grandkids at an AirB in Pennsylvania. 8:30 p.m.
3Hotdogs
Jun 2023
#78