With Advancing Age Comes Freedom
One of the benefits of getting on in years
At the age of seventy, I am casting my mind back to when I was in my early twenties. Back in those days, I had a completely different perception of old age than I have now. In 1979 my father passed away at the age of 59, which seemed positively ancient. In fact, my father looked more like 79. My mother was only 48 years old when Dad passed away, but the age difference seemed like twice what it was. More than once somebody commented in passing that they had seen my mother in town with her father, which was my Dad. I do not doubt that his time as a German prisoner of war in Poland had a lot to do with Dad’s prematurely physical ageing.
These days, due to better living conditions and health care, people do live longer, and they look younger than they actually are. I think one of the other things which aged people back then was the constant worry and stress of living on the breadline, which we did during my entire childhood. It’s all a far cry from that these days, well, at least it is for me. I’m not rich, far from it, but I want for nothing in terms of having the basics covered. A roof over my head, food, warmth, and a loving environment. So far, so good, but here is the best of it.
I always imagined that my life at seventy would be as miserable as sin. On the…
