The Lady on the Beach and Aging Gracefully

Betty Freidan said, "Aging is not a lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength."  These are such awesome words as  I don't think there has been a time in my life that I have ever felt so vibrant and confident.   On the first of August, I will turn 77 and I am often referred to as the older lady with the gray hair.  I think of my gray hair as wisdom and nature's highlights.  As for these lines in my face, they are where many smiles have been and tears have landed as well as the beautiful sun and wind on my skin.  The memories have certainly been worth the wrinkles.  These scars I have, they are real badges of courage.  I once read the best classroom is at the foot of an elderly person.  So, all this being said...I don't for a second regret growing older as it is a privilege denied to many.

When I was in my thirties, I spent my summers with my husband and my boys at Cape May, New Jersey on Windsor Beach.  Each year I would see the same lovely lady walking the beach, always with her husband, hand in hand.  I grew older and so did she, suddenly she was walking alone.  What always impressed me about "my lady on the beach" as I called her, was how she grew more beautiful with every passing year.  She had the most beautiful silver hair that glistened in the sunlight, a smile that I will never forget, she always had on a very tasteful bathing suit that was well suited to her age.  She embraced the classics and was no longer trying to be 35 again.   By her appearance, it appeared she lived a very healthy lifestyle.  I never saw her face until years later when I finally decided to tell her just how much I had admired her over the years and how thanks to her, I would strive to become my own lady on the beach someday.  When I talked to her, she told me about her husband passing and when I looked into her beautiful face and listened to her speak, I don't think I ever witnessed anyone quite so beautiful.  I never saw her another summer after that encounter but whenever I have an opportunity to walk a beach, I try to stand a little taller, smile a little brighter and can only hope that I have become someone's "lady on the beach" 

I don't believe that I could share a story any better than this one about the art of aging gracefully.  I am still trying to power forward in my own life.   Looking back, I remember CoCo Chanel once said "Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. It is up to you to merit the face you have at 50." The fact is, aging is inevitable.  We should embrace it as a beautiful part of life.  Focus on happiness and what brings you the most joy.  There are lots of bumps in the road like we are experiencing right now but we can choose not to dwell on stressful times but move forward instead.

There is no need to despair over aging, let's join together as we hit our stride and remember the best is yet to come.  "Be Your Own Lady on the Beach."

Live Well and Prosper