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John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC

Age


I am convinced that most people do not grow up…We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.” Maya Angelou




From the stageplay Cyberdate by John William Tuohy

Grace
I’ve learned this much.  The important moment in life isn’t one thing, it’s a lot of moments rolled together. You need perspective.  You need to become old to truly understand that..  Young people are so frightened of old age. (A smiles comes to her face, she holds up a finger as if to tell someone something funny and important)
 I was napping on the sofa the other day, and my granddaughter was worried that I was dead. (She laughs)   I used to think, when I was younger, that one day I would wake up and I would be in old age.  But there is no old age, or middle age or even youth, there’s just………….You.

Milt
               Still, I’m proud that in dog years, I should be dead


Grace (To the audience)
You see wrinkles on me, I don’t.  I see the place where smiles have been, anger, fear joy, emotions, PASSIONS!  the stuff of life.  I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that!

Milt
 But you do grow old.  There’s little signs along the way that tell you you’re getting old.  Like you and your teeth don’t sleep together anymore, you try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren’t wearing any.

Grace
              Your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.

Milt
   Suddenly, the pharmacist has become your best friend.  You finally find something you've been looking for, but can't remember why you wanted it.  Tightening your belt becomes uncomfortable under your armpits.

Grace
You can't finish a conversation, because you don't remember what you were talking about.

Milt
             Your top three favorite pastimes involve sleep.

Grace
                    What were we talking about?

                               Four-second pause

Milt
                                            I forget.

Grace
      The other thing about getting older is, you often repeat things.

Milt
         and your top three favorite pastimes involve sleep.

Grace
    You see, the great secret that some of the aged know, is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years.  Your body changes, but you don't change.  You’re still you.

Milt
                     We’re always the same age…..  inside.

Grace
    I'm not interested in age at all nor am I interested in those poor, lost souls who insist on telling me their age or asking me my age.  You're as old as you feel.  Besides, I’ll be never be old.  Not as long as there is some one always 15 years older than I am..
 Look, you can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.  In as long as you find company in yourself and your pursuits, you cannot feel old, no matter what your years may be.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, yes, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Milt
This I’ve learned….happiness in life is rarely something you experience, it's something you remember. As for regrets, I have regrets over my failures, but I think we’re all failures, at least the best of us are.  The world is made of people who are always a day and a dollar short.  We just don’t talk about it with each other, that’s all. You grow old when regrets take the place of dreams.  Age wrinkles the body.  Forgetting how to dream wrinkles the soul.  When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single dream I didn’t dream or try to make true or a talent I didn’t try to use.  That way when I can look at the good Lord I can say “So God, my friend! I used everything you gave me. That’s the best I got ”


Lights off slowly and softly to a fade of darkness