Last week I started to notice my age. Old isn’t the right term, I’m still only 40 after all, but the changes that come with age. Not the bad ones, I mean the richness of life and people that comes with time. Is aging all that bad then or does it bring greater joy to life?
So where have today’s pondering’s this come from? I went to a wedding, a rare occurrence now we’re well beyond the thriving wedding season of our late 20s. The wedding of a man I still think of as a little boy. My cousin-in-law. The first time I ever met him he was a shy, cute 5 year old boy. I’d just met my now husband and he’d taken me to see his beloved Auntie Debs and her kids. Two adorable, shy blondies who slowly but surely both ended up snuggled on my knee. I was only 20 at the time. With no thought at the time that one day I’d marry Paul. That I’d see those two little shy blondies grow up. The little girl married a few years ago, now with an adorable one year old, the boy now marrying his teenage sweetheart. That my own children would be the big kids at their weddings.
12 years before, I remember these blondies being young teens at our own wedding (it’s our wedding anniversary the same week). I remember my Mum and Auntie Debs as blubbering but very happy wrecks in the corner at our own wedding. And now I get the blubbering. I enjoyed the same joy of my mum watching all of this happiness, the new families, the friends celebrating their friends, the older generation celebrating these children growing up and ploughing their own furrow in life.
Yes, age brings achey joints, ageing parents, even greater responsibility and more and more losing those we love but for me I’ve realised it brings huge joy watching everyone else grow. From my own kids, to the beautiful couple we had the joy to see celebrated last week. Who knows what the future holds for us, or anyone, but these little moments of joy and growth mean so much.
So, thank you Connor and Chelsea for making me feel my age, in the loveliest possible way.
p.s. I felt all of my 40 years and maybe some more after an evening of indie wedding disco. Who knew 20 somethings love the music of my youth so much 😉
p.p.s. yes I did get in that river behind us. There was a lovely little secluded pool further up.
Open Water Wheway 