Sunday, November 9, 2014

Winter is coming

This morning I woke to a howling wind. Not the worst I will hear over the next couple of months, but a stark contrast to the winds of Autumn this year. I believe this past Autumn was my favorite EVER - I know I packed a lot of joy and memories in each day, making time for those I love, learning new skills at work and in my craft and laughing so hard I ached. Truly ACHED!


The weather folks predict 4-10 inches of snow come Monday evening - depends on a multitude of factors. The leaves are all down from the trees, yards are raked, shovels are on porches and I put my emergency kit in the car. 


Yesterday I worked in the garage pulling out shovels, sand and winter gear and had MPR on so I could listen to the tribute show for one of my favorite radio personalities who died this week,Tom from the "Click and Clack" brothers. I found myself laughing along with him even as tears poured down my face -- I loved that old man's laugh! When the announcer mentioned his year of birth I realized he wasn't all that much older than me.


Last Saturday found me in a friend's home listening to the benefits of using natural products, especially as a cancer survivor. Having had my usual cajillion cups of coffee, I excused myself and, while washing my hands, caught sight of something glinting in the mirror. I leaned closer and noted my hair was finally showing speckles of gray and my face was wrinkled with a mixture of laugh and worry lines. Later, as I put on the natural home-made hand lotion, I smiled when I realized my hands mirrored those of my mother and grandmothers' hands - crooked pinkies, age spots and a bit of arthritis.


Winter is coming.


I have so much more energy since I began this healthy living and healing path over a year ago, that there must still be 50 years of living in me. But the calendar tells a different story.


Winter is coming. I have left middle-age.


Maybe I should be planning on becoming old now instead of planning on expanding my career and volunteer opportunities...and hiking in Maine and Newfoundland...and riding my bike in the Appalachian mountains...standing on foreign beaches and watching the sun rise over the oceans and learning about sustainable energy (solar panels in my future?) and mapping up plans for a Tiny House to live in and baseball parks left to explore and a book to write and quilts to design and...well, a myriad of things that say to the outer world that I am not taking my old age seriously, not planning for a proper future. Because Winter is coming.


I had to stop typing for awhile and think about what I've written. Took a cup of coffee out on the front porch - sans coat. Sat on the porch railing and let the coming winter winds cool my coffee as I sat there breathing it all in... And you know what? Let winter come. I welcome it!!!


I'd rather collect more laugh wrinkles than worry lines - have the sun from the Appalachian mountains glint across my graying hair as I pump furiously to reach the top of a hill and shout with glee as I fly back down than deny its existence with dyes in order to sit in a room learning about Medicare plans and senior housing.


I don't care what the calendar says -- I will continue planning on another 50 years of living and enjoy each day that comes my way. Old age or not.


Heck, I used to pray to be old - to survive all that was thrown at me and that I threw myself at...and my prayers were answered. I no longer have to envy women who look great in gray hair -- my own hair is finally getting gray strands such that it is noticeable. No longer must I covet  women whose lives are reflected in their faces with such beauty of crisscrossing lines and creases.  I have my OWN lines and creases.


By gosh, I am quite fetching in my old age...at least that is my .


Winter IS coming. Hallelujah!