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things. I wanted to sit down and read a book without having to stop to break up a fight or tend to a crying child. In the eighties, I fed my family of eight on $35 a week and they ate well. But I wanted to go to the grocery store just one time and buy whatever I wanted to eat without having to make a menu for the week and take a list. It would have been nice to have had a new dress without having to make it myself, or a new pair of shoes that cost more than $15. Sometimes I wanted to go play instead of doing laundry and trying to teach my children to be responsible.

Growing old means you have more freedom to be yourself, choose how you spend your time and who to spend it with. Although you still may have concerns about children, and don't love them any less, you are not obligated, nor do you need to be, responsible for making decisions for anyone other than yourself. If you want to stay up until midnight playing computer games, you don't have to worry that you won't hear the alarm for work. Gaining five pounds is not the major disaster it might have been at age 30, so it's okay to have another scoop of ice cream once in a while.

Although growing old brings the potential for more health problems, forgetfulness, and other inconveniences, it also gives us the time to enjoy all the things we were too busy to enjoy while we were in the middle of living life. We have the opportunity to "make up for the sobriety" of our youth, just as Jenny Joseph intended to do. It's okay if we want to learn to spit.

Learn more about this author, P. Payne.
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