Age

                  When I was younger, I always wanted to be older.  I lied and said I was older then I was.  Anybody else do this?  I had been told, "When you get older you will lie and say you are younger."  I thought naw, I want to be old, when you are older people respect you more and you are so smart.  I want to experience old age and say things like "when I was younger."  I want to retire; relax, travel the world, and maybe even volunteer.  

Well I am just a couple months from 30 years old and as of this week, I get to say "I am retired."   The coast guard is medically retiring me because of my health.  It sure feels strange since I think I am so young, I have a whole world ahead of me.  I did not fathom being "old" at 30.  I guess karma is coming back to me for always lying about my age.  Chronologically I am not old, but my by body and soul, well they are pretty old.  I have already had a stroke and cancer.  The cancer I had is primarily seen in 75 year old men.  I am so much younger than the average patient my oncologist sees, he jokingly calls me his "pediatric patient."  I have already had to come face to face with death and my own mortality.  These are not things "young" people deal with.  These are things "old people" deal with.

All this retiring and thinking about the future has had me thinking.  What is age?  I use to think it was so important, there were things attributed to certain numbers.  I had to be 12 ride in the front seat of a car, 18 to move out of the house, 21 to drink alcohol, and 65 to retire.  I thought with age came wisdom and respect.  Boy was my idea of age wrong.  I have learned wisdom and respect come from one's experiences and interaction with the world.  I have met some 18 year olds I can say I respect more than some 40 year olds.  Age may make others judge a person by how they look externally, but it is how one speaks and acts which determines the true value of their character.  Age does not just automatically give a person grace and humility.  Those are things people have to work on daily.  What a perk, as you age you have more time to work on those things, but that doesn't mean every one does work on those those things.
     
A friend posted an article this week about 20 things to do in your 30's to make your 50's better.  This was a good read.  It is great to be in the present and not focus to much of the future, but at the same time we are naive to think we can stop time and not think about the future.  With the future comes age and time we can not take back.  I do not want to have any regrets on decisions and friendships and boy do I not want to take for granted my health.  Even though to most retired people I am young, I have been through enough to realize time is not something to waste.  Tomorrow, your whole world can change,  Don't let your "young" age or your "old" age be a factor in your life.  Age is just a number, who you are and how you live your life are much more important than some number.   

I believe I am so lucky.  With retiring, even if just temporarily, I get a new lean on life.  People often say "when I retire I am going to do this and I am going to do that."  Well I am getting to do all my this and that's at an earlier age. I don't want to waste the limited time I have on this Earth.  

Is there anything you have been not doing because you are "too young" or "too old"?  Well take a moment and reconsider that age is just a number.  You are not too old or young for anything.  You can do anything you believe you can do!