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
