When embarking on this CWH/Dreemport challenge I had very little awareness of what it entailed or what was expected of me. But that didn’t stop me from making up my own expectations. As usual, the self-made expectations proceeded to consume me for a bit causing all kinds of ‘problems’. The need to be clever or cute, laughable or lyrical nearly smothered my chance to be real, to be brave, to just be.. For a time I forgot a favorite manta “The Problem is rarely the Problem”.
But as the three-week journey progressed most of those limiting, self-imposed expectations were eliminated. (That happens when you show up for class.) But that didn’t mean I had any clue about the direction this final post of the challenge would take. So, in preparation, I looked back on my journal entries and noticed plenty of phrases, lists, random thoughts, and favorite quotes. I was re-reading my first journal entry and the first thing I had written was ‘Age is a Blessing” After reading that I glanced up, and a quote, which has been on a sticky note on my monitor for a couple of years, seemed to jump out at me. The quote is from the artist David Hockney and says “ We Always See with Memory”. Seeing those two lines together opened a door that the following fell through. Is it a poem, free verse, prose, or simply ramblings emerging from my nearly 68 years? Who knows.? I do know that for me “ it’s not right, wrong, good, or bad… it just is.”* (*another favorite quote-this one from Brian Klemmer”), and that is a blessing..
Age is a Blessing, Hidden in Plain Sight
Age is a blessing
It creates space
where diminishing vision
brings clarity and sight.
Age is a blessing
It offers grace
to the forced march of youth.
Forgiveness to the march that served as an excuse.
An excuse that allowed speed bumps
to become cement barriers.
An excuse to stop seeking
the steep path.
An excuse to forgo
adventure and be
an adult, a lady, a mother, a wife, a professional, an educator….
Age is a blessing
It recognizes
all those pieces
as elements of enhancements
to be celebrated
not as labeled limitations.
Age is a blessing
It blurs the hard edges,
embraces the wonder
absorbs the scents,
hears the smiles.
Age is a blessing
It respects the try,
seeks to know more,
recognizes perceived fails
as perfect practice.
Age is a blessing
It honors the comfort
of a slow wandering walk,
the serenity
of silent moments,
the confident joy
of a spontaneous puddle stomp.
Age is a blessing
It completes
a perfectly imperfect circle.
Hidden in plain sight
Age is a blessing.
(photo by me: couple dancing in the zocalo on the first night of Day of the Dead celebration, Oaxaca, Mexico 2022)
This is a brave move by you and I can relate well with the message you left before your poem/Freewrite. Hehe. It forced me to think really hard while reading as you walked us through the series of battle your mind had to go through before reaching the point where you prepared the post. Hehe. This is awesome 👍.
Age is truly a blessing. Sometimes, when life is hard and we take each step without being sure of what comes next, waking up to a new age and adding a new year to our life makes it feel like we are wasting time without achieving so much.
I feel that as I get older while struggling to set a good future for me. Age is truly a blessing. I just hope I will get to enjoy each new age I get into. Hehe.
Thanks for sharing this. You did well 👍
Age is a blessing. The experience that comes with age can't be bought. I will summarize my comment with two adages;
Age is a blessing.
I popped in from #dreemport because I am a #dreemerforlife.
Thank you. Beautiful adages.
Wonderful read... thank you for sharing. I found this from #DreemPort
I don't often stop and read short form poetry. It's just not a genre that I ever fell in love with. really loved some of the longer Shakespeare, and Wadsworth, too. And Poe, for sure, as I was in school... and now, I find my self wondering???
Why?
Why did I ever stop? I truly enjoyed your piece, today!
This is beautiful Gretchen - I LOVED that first stanza!!! where diminishing vision brings clarity and sight.... the contrast there! hehehe
and the rest just had me nodding my head and enjoying my 47 going on 48 years.
I've never been afraid of telling my age. I fully embrace it. I do dye my hair though... hahaha (though right now - grays are absolutely sprouting in sparkles all around!!) I don't know why my greys sparkle but they do hahaha i think it has to do with the way they bend LOL but it helps me to embrace them.
These days I'm taking better care of myself so that I can enjoy the years that come even more. I think so often, we get lazy with age - and then the result of that laziness is looking in the mirror with sadness. Not because we don't like what we see (though there is that) but because we have ALLOWED what we see instead of maintaining our youthful spirit!
I want the best of all worlds. I want all that you mentioned in the poem AND THEN to also look in the mirror and smile fully.
I knew a married couple that never stopped being young. They were in their 80s and looked like they glowed from the inside out. Their skin was older - but soft and creamy like a baby's too...
They lived a full life of service and never stopped...
We moved before we knew what happened to them in their older ages - but I imagine them still just as young as ever hehehehe
loved ths post :)
Thank you @dreemsteem . the best of both worlds is achievable. I watched my parents live it everyday of their 73 1/2 years together.
what a great testament to love and youth and staying vibrant!!!! love this!
Age is a blessing. Thank you for sharing.