I recently saw an advertisement for a funny tee-shirt that said “Old Age Isn’t For Sissies!”   I don’t qualify for any senior discounts yet, but some days my bones sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies with all kinds of snap, crackle and popping going on.  Add to that noise the fact that my joints cramp up at the slightest repetition and I can imagine how it must feel to wear with pride that piece of cotton with extra large print displaying the phrase “Old Age Isn’t For Sissies!” 

Like a good bottle of wine gets better with time coming of age does have its benefits.  No kidding, just take a minute and think of our five senses and how they change over the years.

1. Taste.  There are many things you cannot learn from a book.  Things you have to learn by experiencing life.  Things you can’t possibly know unless you taste for yourself.  Like how it feels to blow out eighty candles on a birthday cake.  Eighty different wishes for your life; I assume the last twenty years or so what will be wished for will have more to do with the people in your life than your own life.
2. Smell.  To stop and smell the roses along life’s highways requires time and patience.  Something older people do with dignity and peace.  I see this everywhere I see a senior citizen.  They spend their time in today not next week.  Even their “hellos” are unhurried; it is usually followed by genuinely wondering how you are doing; do you like the weather; how is life treating you; and furthermore can you believe the beauty in the roses this season.
3. Sight.  While it is true that age steals twenty-twenty vision it replaces with the crystal clear vision of hindsight.  Being able to look back on eighty years of life experiences has to be quite an eye opener.  Hindsight is where a lot of wisdom is gained.  Wisdom of been there, done that, and now know better.  The wisdom of the elders is something to take into account.
4. Touch.  This is a fact, Grandmas love to put their arms around you whether they are your Grandma or not.  They have no problem holding your hand or slipping their arm in union with you.  Their touch brings comfort and closeness to a hectic often cold world.  Sometimes we lose touch of the simple act of touching and it takes someone of greater age to gently remind us.
5. Hearing.  Hard of hearing bends one’s ears to a different sound.  Gossip is considered silly; complaining is useless especially on deaf ears; fighting and yelling was something once done but no longer part of life for an advanced person of age.  They have grown up and the sounds they choose to hear come from a different angle.

It’s starting to make a little sense to me; age is just a number not to be measured so much by aches and pains but to be counted for sure on how we perfect living by using the five senses God gave us to live the life God desires for us.

I’ll toast to a good bottle of wine and I’ll toast to living a good life at any age!

Enjoy the gift of LIFE.