By Teena Myers
It is hard to believe I am now on the downslide to 70.
When I was young, I could not wait to grow up. Time moved like a slow drip filling an ocean. I woke on my 66th birthday six months away from collecting social security, grey hair, with a white-haired balding husband, an empty nest, and four grandchildren.
When I was young, I also longed for death to end my misery, even pondered suicide. I survived child abuse, drug addiction, betrayals by family and friends, severe depression, an unhealthy body one-hundred pounds overweight, and an illness that left me in a wheelchair. But if we survive the cruelness of the world we live in, and the dumb decisions we make when we are young, better things await.
Now that I am old, I don’t feel old, and awake happy to cherish my faithful husband who loves me like no other. I am proud of the men and fathers my sons became. My beautiful grandchildren light up my life. I love the silence the empty nest gives me to pray and reflect on difficult lessons the past taught me.
Today, I am the last of my immediate family. My Dad died in his 50s, brother and sister in their 40s, and my mother at 85. But my life is richly blessed with a new family, and remarkable talented friends who I love and trust. Rory and I live debt free, and finally have money in savings. My body has never been healthier. I am signing up to run triathlons and will do my first Olympic distance (32-mile swim, bike, run) next year. I have finally found my best life and, if I live as long as my mother, have another twenty years to enjoy it.
*Photo created with AI
© Teena Myers 12/1/2023
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