The porch swing pondering is just marvelous today, darlings! You have to read the word marvelous with a long drawn out southern drawl. The Lord knew I needed some porch time today. It’s a cool 72 degrees with a delightful breeze! I’m loving it! The wind chimes are striking up a morning sonata and the cicadas are playing their musical instruments. They are the loudest insects on Earth! Then there is the drum beat of the gutter dripping rain. I’m happily back in my porch pondering element and enjoying this symphony conducted by Mother Nature. As the symphony quieted down the hummingbirds’ twitters and wing flutterings extended the music a few more bars. Now the cardinals are joining in with their solos of “birdie, birdie, birdie, and cheer, cheer, cheer.”

I’m eating rainbow sherbet from a cut-glass compote with a silver spoon. Life can’t get any better unless I see Chief walking up the sidewalk. If I see him, I guess I’m up there with him.

Found this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. “Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again.” Kinda like a riddle. That goes well with “I love you more today than yesterday but less than tomorrow.”

Ever think about the seasons of life and which season you are experiencing now. We can’t turn back the clock. It keeps on ticking. When we’re little we want to be “big” boys and girls. When we’re teenagers we long for the freedom of adulthood. When middle age comes we look forward to retirement.

Guess at my age I’m enjoying the Autumn of my life and rapidly approaching Winter. I think age is a feeling and not necessarily based on how old you are in years. Chief never seemed his age. He was the age of most of my college friends’ fathers. I was never concerned about our age difference but he thought long and hard about it before we married. I never doubted his loved for me and our 21 year age difference never entered the equation for me or my family. We tied the knot and had 41 years of happiness before Covid took him.

It’s surely wonderful to be young and even more wonderful to be old. America seems obsessed with staying young and thin and athletic. Society places a high value on youth and physical appearance. Many people think looking young is a sign of beauty and vitality. I love to see older people who are embracing the changes of aging. I love white hair and all the wrinkles, the wisdom you can see in their eyes. Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself and trying to slow down the aging process. I’ll admit, I do love my Oil of Olay!

I’m 67 years old and I love my age. I’m finally old enough to not care what people think. I think we’re happier at this Autumn stage in our lives. We’ve earned our gray hair and our wisdom from life’s experiences. We have the time to focus on what really matters the most to us — our family, our grandchildren, and our friends. We’ve learned to say no and have earned the right to choose how we spend our days. The list of things we should do or must do is getting shorter. We realize how short life is and we are finally comfortable with just being ourselves. We appreciate the little things that make our hearts happy. We love to laugh. And we have stories to tell!

“Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life,” —Wu-Men.