Changing Views...

"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at the age of 20, has wasted 30 years of his life."  Who'd have thought something so profound would have come from Muhammed Ali?  Well, it did.

I tried to think back on how I viewed things at the age of 20... No easy task!  That's been 40 plus years.  I guess I took a leap of faith, thinking I knew what love and marriage were, all those years ago.  It's worked out well but marriage and love have a different feel to them now.  I still get excited when hubby comes home each night. Not that "jump on him" kind of excitement...more like a comfort that someone who knows me so well is still here -with me.  And I like that... a lot!

Same with parenting. I certainly felt differently, when I was in my twenties, about child-raising than I do now.  With my parenting chores behind me, my views were bound to change, weren't they?  A kind of relief, I'd say.  But I remember worrying about some of the dumbest things, as a young Mom.  Those things either never came to fruition or it all turned out fine...and all that worrying!  For what?  The things that seemed so important back then seem so silly now.

I guess the biggest change in my views has been about aging and no wonder! I'm in the throes of it!  I used to think, when I was in my 20's, that 60 and 70 year olds were dried up old things, who were just biding their time til they headed to a nursing home.  And, as I've matured, I've found there's nothing further from the truth!  Some of the most interesting, vibrant folks I know are in their 6th, 7th, and even their 8th decade.  Maybe I was too arrogant to notice it when I was younger...or maybe it's just that they're my peers now, but my views on aging have certainly changed.

So I guess, according to Muhammed Ali, I haven't "wasted 30 years of my life" because I've grown and my views have changed.  And I hope I can say, in 20 years, that they're still changing.