The Hit List - After adulting...aging.

There it was, staring me straight in the eye. I tried to ignore it as best as I could but somethings just can’t be brushed off.

I’m talking about the wiry white hair sticking out of my eyebrow.

I’m long past the days of coloring the silvery stuff on my cranium but this eyebrow thing? I’m not down with this. Looking like Andy Rooney isn’t my idea of glam. Also, this ankle brace that I’ve been wearing the past few weeks doesn’t add much pizzazz to my get up either. When you put those two things together, it’s an unavoidable fact: I am no spring chicken.

But ankle brace and white eyebrow hairs be damned, I am not letting any of this aging business slow me down one bit. In fact, this getting old thing is a reminder to me every single day that my time here on earth is limited.

I want to make the most of what is left.

I share the same mindset as Joan Crawford who wrote this in her book, My Way Of Life (the best/craziest advice book ever): “Probably time is my only hangup. I organize myself right down to the second because I’m greedy. Greedy to fill every minute of my days with all the things I want to accomplish. And for the future I only want a small thing: a hundred more years to act, another hundred to learn to pain, a hundred more to become a writer, and still another century to get a formal education.”

Word to that.

I have no intention of sitting around letting anything pass me by. Sure, there are lots of people who believe in savoring the moment by “doing nothing” but let me tell you this: doing nothing is the path to getting rusty, quick.

My example was my beloved Aunt Deal, who died after a battle with Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons. Before her diagnosis, she spent her days looking out the window and then driving the short distance to our house for beer and dinner. Other than church, that was her “routine”…for years. A few months after she passed, she came to me in a dream (the dead often visit me at night). It was raining outside and she stepped in, sat on my kitchen chair while I combed her wet hair. I started crying and told her that I missed her. She said to me “Whatever you do, don’t do the same thing every day like I did. Don’t just sit there. That’s the secret to not getting senile.”

I took that advice to heart and haven’t stopped doing my thing since then.

Which means I stay busy. I make the most out of every second. I get stuff done. And, yes, I am plugged in to current events, the news, my cell phone, my kids, pop culture, the latest fad and fashion and all that stuff.

It’s not because I’m avoiding jack shit nor am I trying to “be young” or am I “missing out on the present moment.”

I am utterly aware, tuned in to this big ole world and curious about everything, everyone. I want to soak up as much as I can before I’m outta here.

You may or may not feel the same way. Perhaps you prefer a simpler life with no cell phones or social media, and sitting on the porch watching the days go by. That’s cool. But let me just say this:

Don’t be in a hurry to slow down.

[Tweet “Don’t be in a hurry to slow down. ~ @thetarotlady “]

Because sooner or later, life may force you to slow down. And then you’re going to wish you had the get up and go to get up and go. So go now!

Do as much as you can now because that day may be on the horizon soon enough. That’s what I realize every day as I strap on that ankle brace and gather my tweezers. For now, I have the stamina but what about when I don’t?

Pluck pluck…I’ll think about that tomorrow. I’ve got stuff to do. Lots of it.