No Blueprint for Getting Older

Getting older is new territory for many of us. For me,  it's seeing things through a newly created lens with very little context.
If you don't already know, I was seven when my mother passed away. She was 40; I'm approaching that age...quickly, I might add.
I often reflect on how once upon a time, everything I did was from memory--appointments, important reminders, phone numbers. All of that would come straight off the "dome." Now though? I walk into a room for a specific purpose, but 1.8 seconds later find myself wondering, "Why the heck am I even in here?"
If you're reading this shaking your head in agreement, welcome.  It's OK. (HA)
Those of us for whom getting older seems strange have to remind ourselves that realistically speaking, we don't have an in-house blueprint. We don't always talk about it, but many of us whose parents died young are clueless about what the aging process means for us. Whether it's simply the struggle of not remembering where you've placed your keys from day to day, or getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom...the way our grandparents used to do...there are lessons of getting older that we never had the opportunity to learn from our loved one(s).

My personal experience does not include that of a mother getting older; I don't know how my mother would have done what I'm doing now. I can only imagine her being anything beyond 40.
I'm still here though, and don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. So the beauty--the "Pineapple Sugar," if you will-- is that I'm writing a unique story of again, and not looking to anyone else's for definition.
I own MY story and I get to  share it with others who may be trying to figure out their own pathway to gray hair.

And so do YOU!

So to my "I'm getting older" crew that may be reading this,  I can't write anything here, honestly, that could give you "instructions" on what we do from here.
We're just "winging" it.
And that's OK.
Do it your way...that's the BEST way there is!

~Cynae

P.S. Always put your keys in the same spot. That's the only way to consistently find them (smile).

​About the author

​Cynae Punch Brown is a Houston (TX) based writer,
educator, public speaker, and singer. Follow her on
Twitter or Facebook @cynaepunchbrown

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