A WRINKLED SOUL

TODAY'S QUOTE:
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul... Samuel Ullman

Measuring maturity is such a tricky business. Paper age is what society uses to classify, identify, label, and rate us as if we are simply one dimensional beings. Once we are grown using age as a guide to direct our thoughts, passions, behavior patterns, or emotions just naturally stunts personal growth. Sometimes you'll have to testify to your paper age to satisfy a question on a form, but never define yourself solely by the length of your life so far.

Being more than a number demands that you  be willing to step outside of the box in which both custom and society tries to keep you contained. And if you really want to live you'll be eager to be as ageless and unmanageable as possible for as long as possible. Just because your paper age guarantees you a special day and a cake with candles once a year doesn't give it the honor of dictating much else. And if it does you've given it power it certainly doesn't deserve.

Age is a dry fact next to an ocean of delightful details. The space between birth and death is filled with more than the ticking of a clock. The landscape contains mountains and valleys and everything in between. The width and depth is never definable by its length. And what is invested in rising again after a fall does not depend on age; determination to survive and the power to thrive are what fuels a successfully firm regaining of control of your three feet of personal space.

I use to wonder what it would be that finally altered my mind and heart to feel a bit closer to my paper age. I don't wonder anymore... losing two of my children pushed me past that point at a speed that slammed me face first into a reality too vivid to ignore. But it didn't end there... for their sakes as well as my own I had to keep living. And in all ways possible I have to thrive, or death wins while I'm still breathing. Now isn't the time for me to give into the demands of acting my age. I'm older inside than I was, but I'm still younger than it says on paper. And no matter what you face you should choose to be whomever you are no matter your age. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!