Age: It's Just a Number

We're not as old as our parents were when they were our age!

by Skip Cohen

I'm off the topic of business as always on a Sunday morning, but it's a subject everyone can relate to, regardless of your age! Sheila and I talk a lot about our folks when they were our age, which is where that opening line came from. We're definitely younger, living a very different lifestyle from our parents. But we are the same ages they were when we used to think they were so old!
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Bill Burbank, a buddy from the old Kodak days back in the 90s, sent me the piece below. It really hit home. I get that I'm not getting any younger. I wake up in the morning and creak for ten minutes until everything falls in place, but as far as the pure joy of another day ahead - it never changes. Not every day is a joy ride, but life is good, even with the challenges.

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I asked an elderly man once what it was like to be old and to know the majority of his life was behind him. He told me that he has been the same age his entire life. He said the voice inside of his head had never aged. He has always just been the same boy. His mother's son.

He had always wondered when he would grow up and be an old man. He said he watched his body age and his faculties dull but the person he is inside never got tired. Never aged. Never changed.

Our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever. The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose.

​Author Unknown

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As I look back on my life to date and take a long look in the rearview mirror I'm reminded of t-shirt I saw not long ago:

I thought growing old would take longer.

​And there's my point - stop wasting time on things that don't matter. These days everyone is wound so tight, often wrapped up in something they can't change. Or, if they can influence change, their emotionalism is clouding the process. As a result, they're lost and can't find a starting point. 

Life is too short not to be happy - and if you're not happy, you owe it to yourself to find the path that takes you to more smiles than frowns and tears.

Wishing everyone a memory-making day loaded with time to love and be loved. I've noticed that word coming out a lot lately - usually with good friends who I haven't seen in a long time due to restricted travel, limited conventions, and conferences. It's not unusual to wrap up a conversation telling somebody I love them. It's a great word - stop being afraid to use it!

As always, go for those eleven-second therapeutic hugs with the people you love the most. Make the most of every minute today. And if you're at that age where your train of thought too often leaves the station without you...don't panic - another train will be along in a minute!

​Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world.