After 72 years [73 next months] I've learned to live day-by-day, be thankful for ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING I _can_ do and don't worry about the things I can't.

There may not be a lot of physical things I am able to do but I can create and share by writing. I've always loved sharing with others and I thank The Lord I have the internet where I can discuss and share.

I think my most satisfying task is writing the story of the founding of the California missions and the amazing Father Serra. I just hope people will take the time to read the story and savor what he and his awesome fellow-friars were able to do more than 200 years ago.

Following his travels with Donna Noble, Dr. Who gave his age as 906 (well, he does keep regenerating), then again in different earlier episodes of the long running British Si-fi, he's given a different age. Mind you, he did mention that when he visited the Medusa Cascade he was a tender 90 years of age. So much for Time Lords! I'll probably boot the bucket long before I reach that tender age.

Not as much as I do.

Just discovered that four teaspoons of honey, with one of powdered cinnamon made as a tea: drink 1/4 cup four times a day and it holds back the ravages of old age. Honey and cinnamon are good for other ailments as well. I've just started sipping it and I already feel like a 61 year old! At least age as gone in reverse a little.

I've come to enjoy doing nothing. On Saturday mornings I sit in the backyard drink coffee and watch the fish, snails and tadpoles in the pond. My wife and I enjoy giving them names and then see if we can remember them.

Do nothing?

Keep walking every day. Otherwise, your heart may stop beating.

From Vultus Christi Blog by Fr. Mark...

In the aged, nearly all the bodily powers wear out,
and wisdom alone increases;
all the others decrease:
such as fasting, watching, sleeping on the floor,
travelling from place to place,
entertaining travellers,
defending the poor,
being instant and persevering in prayer,
visiting the sick,
manual labour for the providing of alms.
And without prolonging my discourse,
all those things that are done through the body diminish
as the body breaks down.

I do not mean to say that wisdom,
which in many of the aged declines into senility
is lacking in the young or in those of maturer age;
that is, in those who by toil or earnest zeal,
by holiness of life,
and by frequent prayer to the Lord Jesus,
so seek after knowledge:
but I mean that many who are young in body
have a battle to fight,
and amidst the incentives to sin
and the temptations of the flesh,
wisdom is smothered as fire is in green wood,
so that its flame cannot leap forth.

But when old age comes upon those
who have spent their youth in acquiring knowledge
and have exercised themselves in the law of the Lord day and night,
then they become more learned with age,
more skilled through experience,
wiser as time goes by,
and they reap the most sweet fruit from their diligence.

Saint Jerome, Letter to Nepotian

I can only walk short distances. My lower back hips and knees can't handle it anymore.

My glasses are just perfect,
My dentures fit me fine.
My hearing aid is wonderful,
But, Lord, how I miss my mind.

Agree...

I like this too. I don't fear aging and death so much, although at times I do. It's sin and judgement that frightens me.

I turned 73 last month--I didn't jump for joy.
I can't sleep past 6am anymore.
I'm very active with my senior center; and I'm finally
getting used to being retired. It will be two years in December.
I have been struggling to get my weight down; but to no avail.
I spend too much time on Facebook, instead of reading all those books
I promised myself I would read.
other than that; I don't know what to say.

I will be 77 in a couple of months. My sleeping and waking hours have changed gradually over the past few years, and seem to be set at: go to sleep at 8:30 PM, and wake up at about 3:30 A.M. I truly very much like my hours!

My day outside of the house starts at 7:45 when myself and my dear friend next door (also a widow) drive to weekday Mass together. Thankfully, neither of us have to use a cane yet, although we have joint pains now and then.

I am grateful that I can still mow my lawn with a key-start mower, and trim bushes and pull weeds, but no longer in the sun here in Florida! I wait for the shade. I no longer dig holes in the earth to plant annuals, or anything else -- I just do my best to keep things neat. I remind myself I am not going to take it with me! My indoor garden is flourishing with plants that I repot, and root into new plants, and give them away when they are about 18 inches high.
There is a cactus plant in my living room, on a bench, and is about a foot and a half below the ceiling. It is tied to a wooden dowel to keep it from falling over! I think it would take three people with garden gloves on to re-pot it -- so I am just leaving it alone and watering it once a week.

One of my eight children, the youngest daughter, lives here in town with her husband and two sons. I see the others less, but we do keep in touch by phone and e-mails. Visits are great fun when they happen! 12 grandchildren now!

There is much more going on in my life that I am very grateful for, and I pray for the fortitude to accept whatever may be around the corner. God is extraordinarily good to all of us here in this temporal place! He can change the bad to good when we allow Him to.

I love growing old!

I saw Sister Lucia of Fatima several times: first as a 43-year young woman, then a 93-year old woman in 2000. She then had to use a walking cane.

She finally passed away almost 98 years old eight years ago on February 13.

Her fellow Carmelites now like to think of her as a ten year young girl when she saw Our Lady of Fatima.

When I turned 30, I was upset.
When I turned 40, I got depressed.
When I turned 50, I thought, 'yeah, whatever'.
Next year when I turn 60, I probably won't even notice. 60? Where? When?