Too tempting not to use the book cover to illustrate this poem about the life-long search for self, that is so much fun.
Far from age taking things away from you, it gives you so much more. You feel free to be who you are, do as you wish (taking others into consideration of course, otherwise you have not aged well). You put on clothes that are comfortable, and gave up worrying about the shape inside them long ago.
You are who you are, you are what you are, you love it (if you decide to age happily), and more importantly, you’re still here enjoying this amazing, varied, unlimited thing we call life! What’s not to love if you work to make sure you love it as much as you can?
Who do I want to be when I grow up? Okay so I’m 65 and definitely planning to grow up soon You may say this is a teensy bit late But in truth you need to do a lot of learning about life Before you fully understand that you have no idea what’s going on And if the truth is out there it’s elusive in the extreme And subject to a wide variety of opinions It’s almost impossible to feel that you know everything Unless you have the kind of certainty that makes you old before your time So determined you know it all That you lose the magic of being in this wide world And infinite universe You may also discover That being an ‘I am’ is not a definite thing More it’s fluid Changeable And interchangeable with new ideas If you’re lucky If you choose Plus… Who you are will still depend on your mood Some days I’m a worrier Some days I’m a warrior Other days I’m a writer And still more I’m a cats mum Happy to just sit and watch them play In truth I’m a mum with ambition that never quite overcomes the mother Is that wrong? I don’t know but I do know what makes me happy And what doesn’t Does that make me a grown up? I don’t know I do know that that when I’m happy I’m a better ‘I am’ than I am when I’m not Maybe that’s wisdom? Maybe I am grown up? Maybe I do know who and what I am? And yet…hang on…there’s more… Deb Hawken July 2022
Deb Hawken - Amorah 