What a lucky person I am to be 80 years old. I don’t feel a day over 39. Just kidding!

However, I do feel blessed to be this old and still be healthy and active. Naturally I’m slower and I need more time to recover from “strenuous” activities. I might need a nap once in a while. It takes me a little longer to start moving after sitting for a while. I do go up and down stairs a little slower.

It may take a little longer to pull a name from my memory. I may forget why I walked into a room and have to retrace my steps and start over again and hope that I don’t get distracted again.

Why do I feel giddy? I have lived this long and I still feel the joy of life. I was determined that today would be a day of celebration of being alive. Today I smiled at people, talked to strangers, walked a half mile around a small lake, enjoyed the breeze as I sat by the lake, treated myself to lunch, taught a class at a Senior Center, received birthday messages from family and friends and even strangers, enjoyed birthday cake and presents with some of my family, and enjoyed dinner out with my husband. I am so proud to be 80 that I was sharing that with everyone I met. I was almost like Scrooge in The Christmas Carol after the visit of the 3 ghosts.

I had one startling surprise today. This is something that I want to share with everyone. Occasionally people can really surprise you with their kindness. My husband and I were sitting in Dairy Queen eating free birthday blizzards. As we were talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company, a friendly lady came up to us. She said that she really wanted to let us know how much she was delighted by our happy time together. I told her it was my 80th birthday. She handed me $20 to show her appreciation of viewing our joy. Of course, I said no, that I couldn’t accept it. She insisted, so I finally took the money because I decided that it was a gift in return to her. I plan to pass the money on to someone else. How kind of her and I will always remember how she made this day even more special.

Every day I thank God that I have another day and not just a day of life, but a healthy and mindful day. I do know that I am blessed.

Final thoughts:

“Don’t worry about getting older, because you’ll always be young at heart… even if the rest of your body disagrees.”

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
George Burns