Aging

“We turn not older with

years but newer every day.”

Sometimes I feel like slapping Emily Dickinson. While the eccentric poet remains one of my favorite literary figures, Dickinson’s self-awareness can be nauseating. I say this with love.

She wrote letters and poetry which revealed depth, introspection, and an incredible eye for nature’s lessons. Preoccupied with death, Dickinson still came through with words to placate us old folks about the inevitable: growing old.

My cynical reply to the New England Mystic is simple. The only thing growing newer every day are wrinkles, hag hair on my lower chin, and bruises/ old age spots. The first two may be acceptable during the Halloween season when pulling off a natural witchy look, but this is of little consolation. As for the bruising on thinner skin—often a result of heart medications—I used to look at my parents’ arms and fear the worst. Nope, I know now they just took blood thinners.

I am a little more inclined to appreciate the small desk décor plaque my sister Sara gave me when I turned 65. Sara writes well, too, but she lifted some Shakespeare for the sentiment displayed on my gift. True to the family dynamics, Sara and the Bard nailed how she wants me to see this process of growing older.

“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” Double chin or double belly? Watch reruns of “The Golden Girls” while riding an exercise bike. Flabby arm jiggles? Make a TikTok video and own it in front of 25,894 people.

Walking with two bad knees? Get a three-wheeled scooter and leave people in the dust.

It’s a hard pass for me on doing any of those (other than the scooter, which would be totally in my lane). But I am going to take my sixty-six orbits around the sun and continue searching for new joys in the universe with whatever aging brings.

I think Miss Dickinson would approve.

Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.