Getting Older - 5 Minute Friday

Hey everybody, it's 5 Minute Friday again, and I had to so much fun last week, (my first time) and I am back for more.  Lisa Jo, the The Gypsy Mama, made up the game and these are the rules:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you.

The prompt for today is OLDER

GO!

When first we emerge from that dark cocoon into the blazing light of day,

we are mostly content to drink, to sleep, to snuggle close.

How quickly the milestones are marked . . .

the first sleeping through the night,

the first tooth,

sitting, crawling, standing, walking, talking.

The first year they come fast and furious.

As we get a little older they come less frequently.

Learning to ride the bike,

kindergarten, losing that first tooth.

Our early years speed by so fast

and soon we have left the teen years behind.

Now it is all about getting the good job,

the great spouse, the lovely house, the car.

Striving to achieve . . . acquire the things that make for a good life.

How sad it is . . . if in all our getting . . . we do not get wisdom with it.

As I have passed the 50 mark, I find the desire to disencumber myself

of a lot of things that seemed so important, once upon a time.

What is important now is that I have forgiven those who have wronged me

(real or imagined) and that my relationships are healthy.

STOP!

No, wait . . . I'm not finished.

Gratitude is now my favourite attitude and I value the discipline of Counting the Gifts.

I have fully embraced my current reality.

My body is needing an overhaul and I have a new best friend.

Me and my cane go everywhere together.

I love my gray hair . . . I earned every one of them and I'm not covering them up anymore.

Being a grandmother to five little misses is the cake, the icing AND the cherry on top!

As each year passes, 

I find myself less concerned with how much I have accomplished,

more content to simply BE.

To eat . . . to pray . . . to dream . . . and snuggle close to my Papa.

I read this scripture just  last week:

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails . . . now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me." (Psalm 71:9,18)

A prayer He has already answered . . . a prayer that inspired this poem.

I know I kind of bent the rules of 5 Minute Friday's but I wasn't finished saying what I had to say and so I rambled on.  You can get away with that when you're older.