Senility and Sensibility

This year, at its end, I turn 60. The big 60, so I thought it timely to think of all the good things and bad about being this old.

1. Hair grows unexpectedly in noses, ears and on top of toes! I am grateful for the cosiness and warmth this generates.
2. I need to lean on walls to put on underpants but I'm grateful my knees still bend without pain.
3. I forget the names of people, places, dates and things but I'm so glad I'm clearing my brain of such unnecessary clutter.
4. I require glasses for close-up and far away. It's great! It's much easier to meditate while walking as I see no details without glasses and enter a less distracted zone.
5. I sometimes fear that others might spot my frequent mistakes. Such as forgetting why I entered the room, what I'm supposed to be doing or even what I've just done. I'm thankful that no one really gives a damn.
6. My face and body look like a deflated balloon. I'm so grateful that I've grown accustomed to this undulating landscape which grows increasingly textured.
7.  I no longer hear what some people say. I'm happy that most of the time I'm not missing much.
8.  I have developed an aversion to those suffering from middle-aged angst, especially men in their forties who suddenly grow their hair long, buy a motorbike and get an earring. But feel a strange kinship with adolescence and a deep abiding love for all small children and babies.
9. I'm no good at filling in forms or standing on buses but thankfully I've reached that sweet age when people are kind enough to help with forms and offer me their seat on buses.
10. At night, when I can't sleep, I convince myself I'm dying from some dreadful disease. As the hours go past I reach that delicious sense of detachment. I no longer give a damn. I'm too tired to care about dying.
11. I'm a little rough with people but then I was ever so!
12.  I get my sons names mixed up. But since I now also call my grandchildren by my son’s names they have stopped correcting me. I'm obviously no longer in correction phase but have moved into a stage worthy of pity.
13.  I hate a cluttered home and want everything in its place. The tidiness is inversely proportional to my completely chaotic mental state.
14.  I can pick arguments at the drop of a hat but good friends love me anyway.
15.  My mum is 85 so often forgets things. Fortunately, she remembers more than I! So that cheers her up considerably.
16.  I have surprisingly little and have grown accustomed to the lightness of that load.
17.  No one befriends me because I'm rich and that's a wonderful filter to find the real gems out there.
18.  I am an odd creature, even I notice that, but thankfully have begun to call it unique instead.
19.  My father used to say he had more real friends in the next world than in this one. I reckon mine is 50-50 but I've definitely lost some of the best.
20.  Small things can upset me disproportionately. Cause pacing and stomach churning. Thankfully, I have usually forgotten them by the next day.
21.  When I read newspapers I can no longer find news, just nonsense. When did reality and what they tell us diverge so completely?

Summary

Have I learnt anything from life so far? 

We have a tendency to worry about what we shouldn't 

and to ignore what we need to be doing. 

So worry less and do more!