Some years ago, I would pick up a friend’s mother and take her to church with me.  My friend went to a later mass, but her mom liked to go to the earlier one, which I cantored (led) the singing.  She was a delightful companion and also funny.  She always said, “Getting old isn’t for sissies!”

I thought of it as a phrase that didn’t apply to me yet, and so it amused me.

She has passed on, but I think of her and her wise words quite often.  I really don’t want to be a sissy!  And I agree that living well as we get older requires us to face the loss of strength in many areas of our lives.  It certainly isn’t easy to do quite a lot of things without bucking up and getting on with the responsibilities we once handled so easily.  And it is true that I move slower and avoid more things, such as stairs and anything that requires me to bend over or kneel.  My energy level has dramatically changed.  I am taking longer to do things that used to be effortless.

In other words, I am not the same person with regard to my physical abilities.  I am not yet feeble, but I just don’t have the drive or stamina for many activities.  My mom used to say, “The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be.”  Actually she sang it to me in her lovely voice with a beautiful smile on her face.  Sometimes we sang the song together.  It was so much fun.

I find myself thinking about these two sentences that now apply to me, and the wisdom of these two wonderful moms.  One thing can be true throughout our lives, even when we get old, (and gray).  But if we choose well, we will not be sissies even if we ain’t what we used to be.  And that will be just fine with me.