Courtesy of Jane Glenn Haas

Have Things Changed?

By Jane Glenn Haas

 Or have they?

Just two years ago, renowned author Diana Athill, now 91, wrote about her aging in a slim book, "Somewhere Toward the End."

She said, "There are no lessons to be learnt, no discoveries to be made, no solutions to offer. I find myself left with nothing but a few random thoughts. One of them is that from up here I can look back and see that although a human life is less than the blink of an eyelid in terms of the universe, within its own framework it is amazingly capacious so that it can contain many opposites. One life can contain serenity and tumult, heartbreak and happiness, coldness and warmth, grabbing and giving - and also more particular opposites such as a neurotic conviction that one is a flop and a consciousness of success amounting to smugness."

So what is old age?

Let's start by asking about middle age - because, honestly, I don't know when old age begins. Maybe when you are dependent on others? Maybe when you pass a threshold, like your 80th birthday?

Meanwhile, the impact of aging starts to creep into your life around age 50.

Your job changes, maybe not for the better (or so it seems) and you feel as if the world has kicked you in the behind.

You look around and see your friends and family also showing the impact of passing years.

Maybe, like me, you have a lot of "new parts." Sometimes, that's not so bad.

My artificial knees don't hurt. My new hip feels fine. Only my shoulders are arthritic and achy. My innards seem to be OK. My face has a few more wrinkles so maybe I'll spend some dollars on Botox, or maybe not. Who am I trying to impress?

Meanwhile, think about what you have learned.

I've learned life happens whether you want it to or not. Death has claimed my husband and my oldest son. I have eight grandchildren - seven boys (which generate way too many flatulence jokes) and one girl who is (hopefully) growing out of the princess in pink stage. They are wonderful, dynamic windows to the future and to my heritage, passed on through my children.

I have had amazing successes in life. I have been able to change the lives of others. I have made a contribution to my small world.

I have had failures. I never lost the 25 pounds I vowed to lose 30 years ago.

But maybe I will this year. Because life isn't over just because the years go past. There's a lot more to me. A lot more to live. I'm far too young to join the Irishmen in a "drop of the craythur" every morn.

Contact Jane Glenn Haas

First Published: March 11, 2011 2:10 p.m. in The Orange County Register