VIEWS ON AGEING... Do you realise that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're soooo excited about ageing that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're NEVER thirty-six and a half! You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key! You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or Even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life... you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony... YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk: He TURNED, we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What has changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoaaaa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away! Before you know it, you REACH 50... and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle... you HIT lunch - you TURN 4:30- you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there ! Into the 90s, you start going backwards: "I was JUST 92..." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 AND A HALF!" May you make it to a healthy 100 and a half!! BUT... HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers..This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them"! 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning! Learn more about computers, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle! " An idle mind is the devil's workshop " 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive! 7. Surround yourself with what you love. Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies... Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help! 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next province, to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. And if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares? But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each and every day. KEEP SMILING, BE HAPPY AND ENJOY YOUR DAY! Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind; it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self- distrust, fear, and despair -- these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being's heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what next, and the joy and the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man, and from the Infinite, so long you are young. -- Samuel Ullman