“The world was an awfully large place and it wasn’t easy to find a person who’d gone missing sixty years earlier, even if that person was oneself.”
~ Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden
I enjoyed catching up with a friend yesterday. Coffee and good one-on-one conversation are two of my favourite things, especially when taken together.
Our conversation turned toward aging and that place many of us arrive at where, keenly aware of the finite time we have left here on earth, we long for the freedom to choose how we order our days.
It was timely and reminiscent of my essay, Walking Toward, in the soon-to-be-released anthology on aging called Still Me . . . After All These Years.
The cover back matter of the anthology reads:
Poignant…Humorous…Brutally Honest!
A collection of personal reflections guaranteed to keep you inspired and entertained on that journey we all travel together: The Journey of Aging
With a blend of grace, dignity, warmth and humor, women and men from 60 to 90 and from all walks of life candidly share the blessings and pitfalls of aging – from keeping dreams alive and keeping sex lives active to dealing with retirement, loss of independence and a growing sense of mortality.
A BOOK ABOUT LIVING EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE!
Still Me officially releases on April 4, 2017; the Kindle version is available for pre-order now. Special thanks and congratulations to Karen Walker who pulled it all together, and consulting editor, Mark David Gerson.
This post truly resonates with me right now. My friend and I had a similar conversation on Sunday. I love the quote from The Forgotten Garden. I just finished Kate Morton’s The Secret Keeper. I liked it by TFG remains my favorite of hers.
It’s a place many of us find ourselves at when we reach a certain age I think.
This looks very interesting. I think back to when I was 10, 15, 20, 25…and wonder…If I knew then what I know now! I guess I’m “still me” but I have changed and blossomed and become way more outspoken in my later years. Is that a condition of growing older for others as well? Speaking out more?
Makes sense to me, Karen, that we would be more inclined to speak out as we mature. My experience is that I’ve become more comfortable with with the woman I am and have far less tolerance for nonsense than I once did. If we are inclined to speak out I imagine aging can be a catalyst for us to become more vocal.