Wasted Youth

My friend recently asked what was probably meant to be a rhetorical question, but I'm fixin to answer it anyway.  That'll teach her.  She wanted to know what was good about aging.

Here are some of my favs in no certain order:

1. Free senior coffee at Chick Fil A, 25% discount at GoodWill on Tuesdays, and senior discounts in general.
2. Enjoying other people's children now and then. Mostly then.
3. Understanding the phrase "I've forgotten more about that than you know."
4. AARP
5. Telling young people about my experience at Woodstock (even though I wasn't there.)
6. Finally having an excuse for forgetfulness.
7. Natural platinum blonde highlights
8. Being OK with me.
9. Freedom to be flat honest (blunt? tactless?) when the occasion calls for it and knowing that I get to decide when that is.
10. Being fearless.  I mean, whatcha gonna do, kill me?  Pffftt, you gotta come up with something better than that! 
11. Old friends
12. Understanding more than I have need to explain.
13. Peace

If I had a dollar for every time I said or thought, "If I knew then what I know now. . . " I'd be able to retire someday.  But nobody is going to give me a dollar for that.  (Too bad, because I could really stretch those bucks at GoodWill on Tuesdays.)  The point is, youth truly is wasted on the young.

There's no getting around the fact that age does some wicked, wicked things to physical bodies.  It's a good thing that with age, we often figure out that we're more than just our bodies.