"Getting older is a privilege"
My father once told me this and at first, my stubborn mind wanted to tell him no, this was wrong, for some reason I was rejecting it. I didn't want to get old, I was happy living life in my early twenties, I didn't even want to think about getting old.
I said to him, "we have to work hard everyday, we go to school, earn a degree, graduate, work our asses off all of our life just to do what? To get old? And, this is supposed to be a privilege?"
My father explained to me, "getting older is a privilege because we work hard to get there, doing some of those things you just mentioned, but we also live a life. We fall in love and get married and have families of our own, and our children have families of their own and when you're old and grey you can look around at what you did, what you helped to create. You will have the life experience to pass on advice, to tell stories- stories that are yours, that no one else can tell. You will have a career that you are proud of, that helped to take care of this family that you helped to create."
On Sunday, May 18, I turned 23. I remember last year one of the first things I did on my 22nd birthday was play Taylor Swift's "22," (I loveeeeeee Taylor!)
I love my birthday. Every year older, is another year of my life that I wouldn't trade for anything. The good or the bad. This is my life, no one else's, no one else gets to say they are me, and even when I get old and grey, every birthday that I celebrate is going to be just that- a celebration. Whether I live to be a hundred or I die tomorrow. The chances of my life ending tomorrow are slim to none, but in any case, if I were to die tomorrow, I could honestly say that I am proud of the life I have lived. I have made mistakes, big ones, but that is what life is all about, making mistakes, being human, living your life learning along the way. No one is an expert at life, we don't come out of the womb walking, talking and knowing everything. That is the point of life, of growing up and becoming someone and learning.
It is a privilege to be 23!
I am proud of myself for the life behind me, and looking forward to living the one in front of me.
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