As a 27-year-old student, it seems a bit childish to still be measuring my life according to the school year calendar. Even when I am finished as a student, my life will continued to be measured this way as I will hopefully have a career in higher education with life beginning each Fall and ending each Spring (with a nice long limbo period in the Summer months). This approach also makes more sense to me as I have a Fall birthday, so looking at a new year beginning every November simply works well!
The thought of aging crosses my mind, but it seems so far away that I do not pay it much mind. I think about my parents and family aging, and that is more unsettling and real. Television shows always have that character who realizes their parent or co-worker is developing Alzheimer's or dementia. These stories break my heart, not for the characters, but for fear that it may happen to someone I know. We get hung up on the negative and ugly side of aging instead of accepting that it is a natural and inevitable part of life that can sometimes be beautiful.
I stumbled across an article about a photographer who is struggling with accepting her mother's dementia. She found that by capturing the lives of older animals on her camera, it helped her be at peace with the aging process and her own fears of developing such an illness. Some of these images are quite touching. They show age and decay, yes, but they also show experience, tenderness, and an unappreciated beauty in wrinkles and wear that our society deems negative. While these photos do not take away the fear completely, they do show that aging is not always something bad, but can be a marker of pride illustrating the fullness to which a life can be lived.
If you do not wish to read the article, here is a direct link to her website: Elderly Animals
**Addition 4/19/12**
Another sort of interesting article connected to aging and death came across my path recently titled, "Top Five Regrets of the Dying." As I have realized on many of my travels, it is not about the destination, but the journey and all the mayhem along the way that really creates the experience and the memories you take away from it. We often forget that, and, for those at death's door, realize it too late in life to do anything about it. So, check something off your bucket list, take a vacation with your family, call a friend, and take some time each day to do something that makes you truly happy.
