Milestones and growing old

From birth, we look out for milestones our children achieve. First smile, first giggle, first roll over, sit up, start crawling, first speech, first steps, first day in school, etc. My 2-year-old son amazes us every day with his development. Adam can now speak in short sentences and even hold a telephone conversation briefly. He imitates us on the phone, answering a call and laughing in appropriate places.

Do we ever stop achieving milestones? I am 37 years old, I still have so many things I want to do and achieve. I want to learn to sew dresses, learn to work a power drill and be able to do simple DIY stuff, I want to visit New Zealand, play paintball, learn to make props and costumes for plays, etc, etc. I also want to learn to dance, do capoeira before my knees give up on me with age. I want to visit more exotic places, try exotic food, meet people. I want to stock up on costumes for my children and for myself so we can play dress up and have fun together. It is so easy to get caught up with making ends meet and being too tired to play.

I have to thank Mama Lou for thinking the way I do now. When I met Mama Lou, she was 78 years old but she was so full of life. Never once did I hear Mama Lou say "I'm too old for that". On our last trip to Minnesota in March, we looked through Mama Lou's photos and got a glimpse of what she was like when she was younger. Mama Lou was widowed at the age of 30, with a 3-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son but that didn't stop her from living a full life. She was very active in politics, worked and eventually ran a resort with her friend, Lucy. There were photos of Lucy and Mama Lou dressing up for fun, fishing, going on trip, managing their resort which didn't have running water or electricy. In the late 90's when I met Mama Lou, she was still doing white water rafting, she loved to fish, read a lot and had incredible knowledge about the woods in Minnesota. She loved card games and gardening. The only thing which slowed her down was her heart condition. Her mind was really sharp as she loved crosswords puzzles.

When I'm 80 years old, I'll be down at the nearest club with my maroon coloured hair cut in the latest fashion, "Olivia Newton John in Grease" type tight pants and a sexy top boogeying down - NOT! I'll be growing old gracefully but definitely not be boring!