Being Old

 I'm blessed to enjoy the companionship, love, and time shared with friends and family today.  

Although I've grown used to it, I am sometimes left to wonder why no one I know is older than me.  How on earth did this happen?

I have amazing happy memories of dear friends and family members who are no longer sharing the adventure of life on this planet.  I believe they are not far, and I hold them close to me in my memory, in my thoughts, and in my heart.

I also have very happy memories of time spent with other dear friends and family who, of necessity, have left my small town and are now living in other, usually larger, centres to be near to their children or other family members.

I miss these good people.

I miss the wonderful friendships and the gift of their support of my writing adventures.   I miss the laughter, the closeness, the wonderful sharing within these strong friendships.  

There are still a very few of these dear, old friends who remain in touch through the internet.  I'm thinking of the lovely Shirley and the clever Lucy who loved to play with my long hair when she sat behind me in church.   I treasure my time spent with the very spiritual, caring Marleen.  And I'm thinking of the talented Goldie who worked so hard beside me as we prepared what has, so far, been the only Writers'  Festival in Elliot Lake.

But the sad reality is that the majority of my dear old friends are alive only in my fond memories.  

This is something that is not always easy to deal with as I continue to be old.   It is not always the easiest thing in the world to make new close friendships late in life.  It is not always a good feeling to know that no one is older than me.

How blessed I am that the wonderful younger people in my life share their time and include me in their activities.    How blessed I am that I am given the opportunity to enjoy my retirement; to stay busy and useful with my work; to enjoy my passions of painting and writing.  How blessed I am that my closest family members live nearby and are counted as my best friends.

Being old is a gift.   It has its own challenges and its own rewards.  

Since this blog is about my writing adventures, I guess it won't hurt to mention that I have not done a lot of creative writing about age and aging however I have done a little.  

The characters in  When God Gives Us Spring share their later years with a reader.   Sara is left alone after the too early death of her husband.  Ellen shares her memoirs from childhood to old age when she, sadly, endures Alzheimer Disease.  She even shares her personal death, ascension experience.

So the topic of being old has not been totally ignored in my creative writing.  Nor has it been ignored in my painting.  I am not a portrait painter.  I'm a wanna be portrait painter.   But I do attempt to paint people and some of them are far from young.

There is beauty in aging and I make my own attempt to not only paint it, but to live it.

Thanks for listening.  And thanks for buying a book or a painting from this old lady.  xoxox  https://amazon.com/author/audreyaustin

Below are some of my paintings of others who, if not already there, are on their way to 'being old'.  :-)