How We Age

The internet has forced the issue of aging upon me. Reuniting through Facebook and Classmates with friends from whom I haven't heard for more than 30 years, I find the temptation to draw comparisons between way-back-then and now irresistible. Suffice it to say, some of us have weathered the years better than others. Some have led ordinary lives, while others have pursued one adventure after another. Most of us have had children; some have had thrilling careers; others have done not much of anything. There is just no way to generalize about what has happened to us, except, perhaps, that almost everyone has, at one time or another, talked about some life-threatening disease that has spared or not spared someone near and dear, complained about bone problems, or discussed some other symptom of aging. For me, aging is something that others do. The lines on my face, my dry, wrinkled elbows, and the increasing frequency of aches and pains in my bones are more like an insult to my psyche. "Why me?" I ask myself, incredulous that it could happen to such a young person (forgetting that I'm 55). No, this wasn't supposed to happen. "It's an affront," I think to myself, recalling my childhood mantra, sung by a young woman dressed in a skintight green outfit, "I won't grow up." Sigh. Life rushes forward, and we're all caught up like helpless branches in the river's current. "No," I say, "I will not wither, dry up, and die."

This is why I was delighted to discover the trailer for Hats Off, a documentary about the actress, Mimi Widdell who at 93 years of age knows how to go on living. Here's the trailer: