Years ago, I was waiting at a red light on my way home from my oncologist's office. A boat-like car slowly pulled up next to me. I looked over and saw a gray-haired woman sitting up straight. Her gnarled fingers gripped the steering wheel at 10 and 2, as if she was doing a pull-up to peer over the front hood.
Staring at her, I had a powerful thought:
"Wow. She got to be old."
At the time, I was in my late 30s. My children were young, and my long-term prognosis was lousy.
"She got to be old!"
"Old" felt like such a long time away for me. Too long away it seemed.
The woman kept looking straight ahead. I whispered to myself, "How beautiful you are. And how lucky."
As I'm typing this, I'm looking at the crooked tip of my finger that taps the "p" key. No, I didn't slam it in a car door. (And no, it is not cancer.) This spring my right pinky developed a textbook "Heberden's node" -- a sign of arthritis. A sign of getting old.
Ah, lucky me.
Absolutely wonderful! Like the gray in the hair, the creaky knees, and the smile lines....all signs that we've made it to the next stage of life and it feels great!
Posted by: kate | November 25, 2009 at 07:54 AM
Beautiful! :)
Posted by: Lisa | November 25, 2009 at 10:57 AM