MY GET UP AND GO

Old age is golden, or so I’ve heard said,
But sometimes I wonder, as I crawl into bed,
With my ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up.
As sleep dims my vision, I say to myself:
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
But, though nations are warring, and Congress is vexed,
We’ll still stick around to see what happens next!
 
How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get-up-and-go has got up and went!
But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin
And think of the places my getup has been!
When I was young, my slippers were red;
I could kick up my heels right over my head.
When I was older my slippers were blue,
But still I could dance the whole night through.
Now I am older, my slippers are black.
I huff to the store and puff my way back.
But never you laugh; I don’t mind at all:
I’d rather be huffing than not puff at all!
 

How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get-up-and-go has got up and went!
But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin
And think of the places my getup has been!
I get up each morning and dust off my wits,
Open the paper, and read the Obits.
If I’m not there, I know I’m not dead,
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed!
 

How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get-up-and-go has got up and went!
But, in spite of it all, I’m able to grin
And think of the places my getup has been!

Dad used to love this verse.  He had the article clipped to the refrigerator before refrigerator magnets were popular.  He used to love to read this to me.  It tickled him so.  In doing some "research" on its origin, I found an entry on the internet that claimed it actually originated in St. Louis.  The "author" is unknown but the writer of the entry says it was written by someone from the old Globe Democrat, a now defunct St. Louis newspaper.  In spite of its origins, I still find it humorous, poignant, and characteristically true.  Hope you enjoy it and by the way.....Happy Easter! 

This Aging Thing

“You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”
― George Bernard Shaw“
Embrace aging.”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

“It is lovely to meet an old person whose face is deeply lined, a face that has been deeply inhabited, to look in the eyes and find light there.”
― John O'Donohue

“I'm pretty sure that eating chocolate keeps wrinkles away because I have never seen a 10 year old with a Hershey bar and crows feet.” 

― Amy Neftzger

There is an element of serene tranquility that peppers my life now.  Gone are the hurried days of completion and fragmented accomplishments.  The veneer that so covered an existence without hesitation has vanished.  I read these quotes with humor and reflection and ask myself if there is a need to clothe myself in review.  Was there something missing in my life or had I failed to find the leprechaun's pot of gold?  I used to ask myself of how I would be at this age...fearful, deliberate, oppositional, or even surreptitiously happy?  I prefer the latter as aging hasn't become something as a distance yet to be reached, but moreover a veneration that I'm here and moving forward.  “Good thing I'm aging, otherwise I'd be dead.” So, on the contrary, I'd prefer it to be this way.   

― Ana Monnar

The hair is graying, the face is lined, there's a bit of a paunch, I don't see as well, the body parts don't all get up together in the morning, but surprisingly they all fall asleep together.  But, I like it this way and have grown accustomed to this.  There is no guesswork at life for I've laid it out with commitment and resolution.  I would not change a thing.

Another Year

Quite simply, I've been graced with another year on this glorious planet.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed He would have given me 63 of them.  For that I'm truly thankful.

Thought For the Day

"Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer."

Joseph Campbell

"It is, moreover, only in the state of complete abandonment and loneliness that we experience the helpful powers of our own natures." ~C. G. Jung

Live Your Life

You're alive only once, as far as we know, and what could be worse than getting to the end of your life and realizing you hadn't lived it? 

Edward Albee

The Beauty in Song

I downloaded this song several months ago and sort of stashed it away in my iTunes library not really giving it much thought or "airtime".  I was perusing my library several days ago looking for what's there, and what's "not there" if you get my drift.  I always get inspiration listening to music, adhered by the poignancy of a artist's lyrics, the catchy melody, the crescendo of his/her voice as it skirts in and out of a particular meaningful verse.  Music like this often moves me to tears.  It doesn't necessarily have to be the lyrics, but can be the melody.  And so it is with this particular song that was immersed in one of my Country playlists.  I started listening to it and as it's words struck a chord with me (sorry for the play on words) and I found myself belting it out over and over and over in the car.  As you can see I've embedded it in this particular post.  As I often like to do, it's a song about reminiscing, not living there, but touching on those days gone by and the memories that are evoked from them.  I'm often saddled by those times and thinking of the one that got away, (or I let get away), and how the haunting verse in this song tattles me with ever so bittersweet memories.  He so beautifully sings of "the power of song when a song hits you right".  This is one of those song that "hits me right".  And it doesn't have to be a song, it could be greeting card verse, a lasting memory from a movie scene of one which embraces me and swaps places with me for now.  Yes, it's the forever sound, or vision of those sounds of a million dreams that lingers with me for all time.

"Seger was singin' words I could believe in
And "Mainstreet" was my street that night
So I called up Samantha and asked her the chance of
us runnin' out neath the moon light
Well shes not with me now, she can always be found
When I rewind the radio dial
and like it was then I feel her on my skin
and I'm back there for a while

[Chorus]
So I labor for hours cuz' I know the power
Of a song when a song hits you right
Poured my soul into stories of life
Hopin' someone will hear one tonight.

Maybe my voice
will cut through the noise
And stir up an old memory
And out of these piano keys
Comes the sound
The sound of a million dreams

[Verse 2]
My 18th summer I was a cocky up and come'er
Crankin' up "Born To Run"
Turn left out the drive with the pistons open wide
And I came back a prodigal son

My spirit was broken, she threw the door open
I love you not I told you so
When I hear "Momma Tried" I still break down and cry
And pull to the side of the road".