Aging brings understanding

Each person's life begins with innocence.

An individual's life choices lead different ways and the expedition reveals a plethora of stories.

It's the author's job to reveal thoughts and actions so the reader can understand the human condition.

My poem below follows from childhood through seventy years of life.

I AM THE SAME

I am the same now as at five years

So full of laughter, then racked with tears

I learned to keep myself steady then

The only one, on whom I'd depend.

I am the same now as at twenty

Smooth youthful beauty, there was plenty

Joyful, bountiful years of sunshine

Golden, wonderful life in my prime.

I am the same now as at thirty

Learning then to become less flirty

To care for others along with me

And cuddle the children on my knee.

(I'm the one with the bent knees)

I am the same now as at forty

Teenage children becoming naughty

But offering love no matter what

And wondering if that's all I got.

I am the same now as at fifty

Adjusting to become less thrifty

The world expanding as I travelled

Observing, as loose ends unravelled

I am the same now as at sixty 

Then things started to become tricky

Gone the elasticity of youth

Replaced by maturity of truth.

                                        

I can't pretend I don't regret the aging of my body. That's probably vanity, although I'm sure everyone feels the same. Yet, I'm privileged in so many ways.

Health, which I attribute to genetics and good living habits.

Freedom from hunger, when so many in the world have no such rights.

Long life, which continues in harmony with my loving husband, who takes great pleasure in creating culinary masterpieces, and considers cleaning up to be his duty.

Experience--joy, regret, pain, sorrow, (losing a son, followed twenty years later by a daughter), coping alone, finding a partner, travelling all over the world, visiting Jesus Christ's birthplace, Egypt with it's pyramids and museum exhibiting King Tut's treasure, Caribbean paradise, the ancient monoliths in England.
In each different era:

Life in The Fifties. Rock and Roll, realizing what life offered and exploring everything safe.

Life in The Sixties. I watched freedom explode in the world while I nursed babies and considered their future.

Life in The Seventies. Our family unit of father, mother and three children explored alternate ways of living from a large caravan pulled by a 4WD all over Australia.

Life in The Eighties. Thrust into the world of Glam Rock and big shoulder pads, I left Australia and travelled alone to England, where I met my present husband and reside now.
Life in The Nineties. Working at Elstree Film Studios and seeing an artistic side of life.

Life in The Two Thousands. A cruise to the Caribbean followed by retirement.

So many stories.