Do you realize 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 so excited about aging that you think infractions.

How old are you? "I'm five and a half" You're never thirty-five and a half.  You're five and a half, going on six! 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 numbers ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 15!"  You could be 12, buy hey, you're gonna be 15! And then the greatest day of your life . . . You become 21.  Even the words sound like a ceremony YOU BECOME 21, YESSSSSS!!!!

But  then you turn 30. Oooooohh, what happened there?  Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED: we had to throw him away.  There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, now you're PUSHING 40. Wait! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Then you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would.

So you BECAME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You have built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's day-by-day: you HIT Thursday!

You get into your 80's 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 90's, 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 all make it to a healthy 100 and a half.

How to Stay Young:

1. Throw out non essential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let doctors worry about them.

2. keep only cheerful friends, grouches bring you down, people who act ugly, make you feel ugly

3. Keep learning. Learn more about anything, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop" and the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

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 ourself. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, whatever, 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, to a new country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

Remember, life is NOT measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away. Hugs...

read Life Is Backwards in breaktime-you'll like it! (it's about this subject)

 You all REALLY need to read this, it is very true!

I was having a horrible day yesterday when I remembered  one of my dementia residents I had a year and  half ago.   when she first came into the facility I worked at she had really bad delusions and hallucunations after a while with med change and some extra tlc she just had one remaining. she had this "bug" named fred and she loved fred because he was alwayse there for  her when she was sad, and any other time she saw and heard him but any ways Fred was alwayse disapearing so we would have to look for fred and return fred to her. Fred has his own bed a cute little basket with a little pink hankechif.  At night when we tucked her in fred had to be set next to her and be in his special spot.  oneday I went into her room and she was trying to get out of her wheel chair to look for freds bed and was sobbing, I asked her how I could help and she said I want to find it (freds Bed) because other wise he will not want to be my friend any more........          I looked high and low and discovered her room mate  had taken it and used it for a denture container and had made a little spot next to them for fred !  I thought it was so cute!! I returned fredds bed and she was so happy she weeled up and down the hall with it on her lap and said " freds back and I think he was on vacation to the denture place, his dentures must have not fit right," there were many adventures with fred.  we all knew that if it made her happy then it was okay. Her doctor would ask her if Fred  had lost weight and needed bug juice to help him gain weight..  she would say "well fred lookes a little crispy and needs help."  A  little tid bit on her was her family had  dumped he in the facility and had stolen a lot of her money and belongings before she was admitted and had been abusive to her so she was very depressed, and pretty close to failure to thrive status  befor fred found her.. to be honest fred made all of us happy because she was happy.. 

A good movie which lends some insight on aging is..."Julie and Julia"  It will make you laugh a lot.  Also, the postscript credits tells that Julia Child and her husband died in their 90's after living many years in Paris, France.

It is a movie taken from a book, writeen about Julies' Blog Project to take one year and cook 365 of Julia Child's recipes from "Mastering The Art of French Cooking."

It makes you wonder about longevity and the French lifestyle.  Or maybe...that is just what a happy marriage can do for you.

       I Love my kids more than life itself and youth is better physically, but I would have a hard time giving up the experience I have and the settled state of mind.  With this being said, I still act like a kid as often as I can and if that gets hard to do I take some advil so it doesn't hurt as much.

Cheers - Tim, R.N.

I have percieved I always felt growing older must be horrible when I was a child...even though being a child was NOT that fun for me,, either.

I think I found a middle ground somehow.  I get older, but I don't let myself realize it. 

I got stuck on 29 and that was 25 years ago

I will only say I'm on my __ 39th birthday (into double digits).

 I read this to my staff at our last meeting everyone enjoyed it

In October I will celebrate the 34th anniversery of my 29th birthday.

October 18th

me too. 

 very cute!

 thanks