My Thought for today - Growing old Gracefully

Is it possible, to grow old gracefully that is? Some people manage it, what sets them apart? It's not just living to a ripe old age it's how you live it. I read an article in The Telegraph on this subject and one of the points made covered the stories that the 'interesting' old folk can regale the younger generations with. For Britain's oldest man (died at the age of 113) he was able to share his stories of life in the trenches amongst other things. For my Gran and Mom's generation there were stories through the war, of rationing, fetching coal, the outhouse, the weekly dances - the list goes on. If we manage to live to a big number what stories will we have to tell? The 1st black President, Nine Eleven, the Berlin Wall coming down - they're all global events, and they're all 2nd hand accounts, well, (thankfully) for most of us anyway.  Will we tell stories of days before mobile phones, punk rock, the first iPods, the days when the internet finally took over the world! That's what we've lived through but it doesn't strike me as being good enough to mark me in the future as 'interesting'.

And who determines 'how' you grow old gracefully anyway? What age does it start? Should I be letting the grey in my hair be seen by everyone or should I carry on (for now at least) with my trips to the hairdressers and my attempts at the gym to keep fit. That's where I've been today, the hairdressers, and I think that's what prompted this train of thought. I think actually there is probably an age when you can 'switch' to growing old gracefully. I'm not there yet, but I am 47 and I do not like that number. I think I am going to grow old kicking and screaming for now, determined to continue to live life to the full for as long as I can AND I want to look good while I do that. Lol - Is that graceful or shall I just grow old disgracefully?

Hmm, perhaps I have the germ of an idea for a series of Scrapbook layouts.

Inside every older person is a younger person - wondering what the  hell happened." 

-Cora Harvey Armstrong-