What has been striking to me is how much we've changed since 2008. Now I know it's 6 years ago but like those early years of life, a difference of 6 makes a lot of difference. A eight year old has gone through many many stages that are unknown to a two year old. A seventy, or nearly 70 year old, feels a lot different than a sixty-four year old does. I didn't know that!
So much of the middle years of our -my - life seem to have flowed on a somewhat unchanging level. Or so it seemed to me at the time. There were the hints... The baby weight of #2 child didn't come off so naturally in my 20s. I didn't fathom wrinkles until my late 30s. The first time I couldn't read small print at night led me to reading glasses in my 40s. Daily medication came into my life in my 50s and regular visits to a doctor and dentist were added to my calendar. In my 60s I reluctantly added exercise to my life.
These are the outside things that changed. But the inside ones are more subtle. At 64, I was ready to do a lot of travel with my dh. And we did! So much so that each year I wanted to do less. Each year, especially since retirement, I was more content to stay home and relish the days in my own home. I wanted less from the outside world and found the constant shifting of place, language, environment to be tiring and taxing. A lot shifted internally that I wasn't aware of except to find much less pleasure in things I once enjoyed.
Who knew there was a homebody waiting to come out? I may do more than Whistler's mother did in this portrait, but perhaps the real shift of the 70s is from an external focus to an internal one. I hope I reach my 80s to find out!
