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Growing old wasn't something I set out to do; all I wanted to do was to grow UP! As one of the two youngest of seven, and as the second of only two girls, I wasn't interested in more than growing up and getting away from home. I had to do a lot of the work inside the house, because the boys did the work outside, and I was a GIRL! And by the time I was old enough to really help out, I was the ONLY girl, because my sister had taken a notion to move out and go to work-and then to get married! So I was left to help in the house, while I really wanted to get outside and help the boys with their jobs.

That lasted until I headed to college. I still wasn't thinking about growing old, because I was growing UP, and taking more responsibility for my own needs and wants. Sometimes I decided NOT to take much responsibility, but when I got low grades for it, I changed my mind and buckled down again. I managed to complete college in four years-and gained a husband at almost the same time. We married just a week or so after my graduation, and I became a wife, with more responsibilities. But I still wasn't worried about growing OLD!

As a child, OLD was my grandparents and parents, my aunts and uncles, and their friends. By the time I was a college graduate, OLD was still my parents, my uncles and aunts, and the leaders in the church. I was still young, to my way of thinking. After all, I was only in my mid-twenties! And I was still going to college-this time, to get my Master's Degree! So I was still young; I was still a college student!

OOPS! My first child came along, and suddenly I WAS the "older generation"! (My nieces and nephews had never seemed so much a younger generation; they were my siblings' children, and I babysat and played with them. They weren't so young!) However, the birth of my son reminded me that I was getting older!

Now I have grandchildren and later this year will have at least one great-grandchild. My husband's oldest grandson and his girlfriend will be having their first child, and I may begin to look again and see that I AM getting OLD! However, my mind and attitude are still young, and that is what I go by when I think of "young" people. I have known small children who strike me as being "old"; I have also known old people who still had the "young" attitude, and didn't seem to be old, even though their years said they were.

So yes, age is a matter of the mind. And since I plan to live to over 100, I need to keep a young mind. That is one reason I spend time writing, reading, and playing games. As long as I can do the things I love to do, I will be "forever young"!

Learn more about this author, Barbara A. Black.
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