Wednesday 24 February 2010

growing old(er)...

I'm a huge fan of BBC programs! I'm crazy about cooking shows to the extent that I will hurry my work to finish on time to come home and watch "Ready Steady Cook" (and furious when the show is not on for a long time... like now... grrrr), I loooooove the show about people moving (escaping...) in a house in the country (though would never do it myself... go figure... guess it's because I really like architecture  and I'm interested in the different types of houses they show) and I'm fascinated by the antiques/auctions show... the one where people flog their attic findings and make lots of money of stuff that looks (usually) like crap to me!

So the other day I arrived home early (yes, have been working like mad in the afternoon to finish on time again... but it's so great to come home early, still with light outside, and enjoy this feeling that the one third of my life which is exclusively for me, my leisure time, is not an urban myth...) and turned the TV on to watch "Flog it". And there was this lovely couple, about eighty years of age, who said have been together for ever and they still have nicknames for each other!!! Obviously they were flogging something, don't even remember what is was, but that's not the point...

The point is that I started observing the old couple while they spoke... their long ears, the noses that appeared huge, the wrinkles (so many of them...),  the hatchbacks, the trembling hands... thinking about decay and deterioration of the body... And then it hit me... Boy, I wish I'm so lucky to reach their age!! Yes, I am aware that I will be looking like that, decayed and deteriorated and with huge ears but... who cares??!! I will still be enjoying life, I will still be laughing, I will still get angry and happy and sad and I will still feel love and joy and pain even... and if my brain works until then I will be able to acknowledge all this as a bonus!

A friend of mine once told me that "getting old is better than the alternative"... he is right! Surely being alive bits the hell out of being dead... partly because most of us have absolutely no idea how is it to be dead, so in the comparison, being dead looses as there is no info about it... But it's not just that... Getting old(er) is indeed better than shoes and it deserves being mentioned here. Not only because it comes with the extra bonus of experience and wisdom (which, let's face it, we might use or not...) but also because there can be happiness found in every day we live... and if we are lucky enough to get really old, that means having lived a lot of days and, thus,  a great lot of happy moments!!

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