Throw Backs

Anyone can make a mistake, most of us do once in a while, but some people don’t make mistakes doing some things and those are the ones that make life interesting. I received an email today with a curious attachment and it made me think.

Children need role models, everyone realizes this, but so do the rest of us. I used to think that when I grew up I would be “finished.” You know, all done, like after finishing school. That point where the world says, well done, you turned out nice. Or whatever.

This morning it occurred to me that we are never “done.” We are not pot roasts in the oven, slowly turning tender and tempting. Nor are we flowers in a pot sitting in the light until we bloom. Thank god this is so, because I do not want to be gobbled up, or snipped off in my prime and dunked into a vase for a few hours before being tossed in the trash.

To be adored is a heady experience, but hardly sustainable. Like the pot roast and flower, being adored has its price. Eventually the novelty of adoring wears off and the adorer either backs up, or moves on to a new adoree. That’s when reality sets in.

One way of thinking through this, is that life has a beginning and an end, so the closer to the end I am, the less I need to worry about what comes next. If it’s been good so far, I’m ahead of the game. I should be thankful and just sit here quietly without exposing my aged and imperfect self for what it is.

Another way, one that hadn’t fully registered until today, is that life is Life. It’s not over until it ends and the possibilities really are endless. I just need new role models as I go along to show me that others are doing it.

Now those “others” need to be somebody I can relate to. For example, a woman. An older woman. A woman who is a little better padded than average, intelligent, loving, funny, sweet and oops! I digress, but you get the idea. I need a “good” role model, one who makes me realize that I am not an oddity in this continuum.

I am simply uniquely me, a throw back in this world who does not need to sit around watching those last drips drop out of the bottle. I need to get down there. Catch them and savor every last one.