Friday, July 07, 2006
72
I turned 72 today. My kids and other relatives will phone. My husband will take me out for supper. I had hoped that I would be edging toward being a better person as I aged, but alas, I seem to be getting worse, more crotchety, less patient, and more opinionated. I am not kinder. My father had a series of strokes when he was about 85, and he gradually turned from a gentle, kind man into a raging man. At that time I was often reminded of Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do not go gentle into that goodnight,/Old age should burn and rave at close of day;/ Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Just yesterday I re-read the poem on mentalmultivitamin. I had forgotten that it was addressed to his father.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Happy Birthday! I wonder whether people really do get more grumpy as they get older of whether it's just that they notice it more. I can be pretty grumpy when the occasion seems to warrant it. My mother is always moaning about her memory going, but I am equally capable of climbing the stairs in my house only to forget the reason why I ever went up there! I hope you have a lovely day and think on how much pleasure you give to the blog community in which, I can assure you, you sound most assuredly even-tempered.
Happy as well. I am nearly 60, and finding my grumpiness on the increase. But somehow, my wisdom is keeping pace with it, as well as a certain rugged patience, and a sense of having seen it all, somehow, and thereby being less likely to be shocked or stampeded into snap judgements.
Post a Comment