It’s funny how when you’re a kid you always want to be older. When you finally get to that first milestone of 16 and get your driver’s license, you think you’ve really made it.

I’ve surpassed all the milestones I thought I wanted when I was a kid. Now I realize that youth lasts a very short time in one’s life, if all goes in the normal way at least. I’m looking back a lot farther than I am forward now. It’s an odd state of mind, but it doesn’t bother me.

I’m lucky. In October I’ll be 75. We had a big dinner party at my favorite restaurant in Todos Santos when I turned 70. But I don’t feel like any more parties. Not that I’m depressed about having birthdays. It’s just that I don’t care to make any more fuss about them. Greg can take me out to dinner and I’ll make myself a cake. No problem.

As everyone knows, our American culture is obsessed with youth. If you have white hair, lined skin, scars, and extra pounds, you think you have to be dyed, pulled taut, hidden, and the weight must be lost. (These days what I lose are my glasses and my keys.)

Our judgments based upon perfection and imperfection have consequences that affect the quality of life. Our perfection standards are limiting, restrictive, and unhealthy. That’s what I read in a article about aging. I agree 100%.

One thing that wasn’t discussed in the article was how one’s bull shit meter goes off the scale with advanced age. That’s my observation. That’s my experience. I’m intolerant of BS. Period. It exasperates me, and I’ll bark my dissatisfaction whether poeple like it or not. If somebody is unhappy about it, that’s fine by me.

And if I don’t want to go where I’m invited, I just say, “Thank you for the invitation, but no.” I never would have done that in my youth. I think it is this knowing myself and guarding myself that I love about my age.

One thing that I’m going to fix though is the color of my teeth. I’m being vain for sure, but I see my teeth in the mirror and I don’t like them. My wrinkles are my wrinkles. My white hair is my white hair, but I’m done with yellowing teeth. I’ll keep the extra pounds at bay with exercise and small portions, so my weight is fine. I won’t give up butter, coffee, or desert. Life is too short now. I used to think that was a weird philosophy. Life seemed loooooong to me. Not anymore. I get it. Life is too short to worry about the things over which you have no control. It’s as simple as that.

It’s fun to walk on the beach with my husband and my dog, and hear the waves, and put my feet in the water every morning. I am fortunate to have a studio where I can paint, play the piano, write, or sing and dance if I want. I’ve got a garden now and that keeps me happy. I’m trying new recipes with the bounty and I’m learning how to make my own dill pickles with the dill and cucumbers I grow.

Tomorrow a friend is going to show us where we can pick wild Mexican oregano not too far from where we live. Mexican oregano is my favorite. Never have I enjoyed an herb so much. It’s good in everything. And it’s not anything like you get in the jar at the grocery store in the US. Trust me.

So, if you’re stressing about getting older, I highly recommend that you stop it. Go with the flow. Mellow out. Be grateful and let that be enough. Take up a new hobby. Go on an adventure. You don’t have to like the aches and pains in your joints. But there are things you can do to lessen that pain…meditate, exercise, take turmeric, drink lots of water, and smile. With those pearly white teeth. That’s what I’m going to do.