Some Benefits of Aging

I don't know who the author of the following is, It was sent in an email with instructions to forward it to 7 more friends.  I receive a few of these everyday and never forward them, fear of some kind of virus or other "unfriendly"  attachments I may pass on to my friends. 
But I really love what this one has to say and wanted to share:

  I  would never trade my amazing friends, my  wonderful life, my loving  family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become  kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own  friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not  making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.


 
I  have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon;  before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.  


 
Whose  business is it if I choose to read or play on the  computer until 4 AM and  sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60  &70's, and if I, at the same time,wish to weep over a lost love  ... I will.

 
I  will walk the beach in a swim suit that  is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.They, too, will get   old.  


 
I  know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as  well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important  things.  


 
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken  hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.   A heart  never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

 
I  am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

   
 
So  many  have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

 
As  you get older, it is easier to be positive.You care less about    what other people think.. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.  


 
So,  to   answer your question, I like being old.  It has set me free.   I like the person I have become.  I am not going to live forever,  but while  I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what  could   have been,  or worrying about what will be.  And I shall  eat dessert every single day  (if I feel like it).