Aging

 

When speaking of aging, I need to begin where it begins with the miracle of life. I call it a miracle because we can't fully understand how it works. We just know it does. I still think of holding my own babies when they were born and knowing they would grow and change with the years.

It sometimes does not work that way but mostly, it does. It is still hard for me to grasp than when they were so tiny, they would grow into who they became. It is life itself and amazing.

I also remember some of my early years but mostly that comes from photographs. As I grew into a child, I remember things I did or saw. I didn't think of myself as an age though. There are times that stand out, like turning 16 and getting a driver's license. Those are mandated by a culture more than our own aging experience. Another big one back then was voting age which was 21 at that time. Again, a culture change more than by our bodies.

Bodily and emotionally, with our growth, came many changes. We go from youth to what could be called middle age or middle years. Once we reach that stage of life, things don't appear to change as much as far as the body goes. We learn, we experience, emotionally and spiritually, we may go through many changes. But middle years continue for a long time. 

In my opinion, our middle years stay physically much the same. There are no gigantic changes as we experienced from babyhood to childhood to those teen years. It's hard to say when youth ends and the middle years begin. They begin as we take on many different roles, but in essence, not so much unless we have health issues. Some of those are a product of our DNA, part about our choices. 

Then, comes a major biological change due to aging. It comes at different times for us based on those earlier choices or from what we were born. It's not the same for us all, as many earlier changes also are. Next blog on my experience with that stage of life, where I have found myself..