114!!

Something caught my eye the other day. My heart, too, I suppose, because it followed me around for days. The Oldest person in the world had passed away. Perhaps you heard? She was 116. 
Well, that happens. Not the dying--of course that happens. But the living a long time---now and then that happens. Occasionally. We are always amazed, impressed for a minute or two and then we are back at living at half mast and never even noticing the difference. 
This time I noticed and I began to think about this lady and her experience. She got up that morning and went and had her hair done.
!!!!
That made me laugh with delight for her, with her. I know 40 year old women who "don't bother with that anymore!"
She cared. For some reason, she got up that morning and maybe she thought, "Oh, thank God I have an appointment for my hair today....I am going to feel so good about so many things when that's done!" Because I have heard this from many women, too!
Then I kept coming back to...what was she doing so differently from everyone else that she would live 116 years let alone caring about her hair of all things? Eating peanut butter from a spoon? Dancing in the moonlight with garlic around her neck? Hey, it's a question worth asking!
 Especially after I did the math. If I double my age right absolutely now, I am still only 114 when I am get through. And if I knew...KNEW!...I was going to live to be 114, what would I do differently? And what would I be thinking about if I knew this was to be?
This is 2 parts. One has to do with attitude. The other with physical health.
First. How much time could I stop wasting by adopting the sorry state of growing older with such open arms? 
"Well, I'm not as young as I used to be!"...
"It's just harder on us older folks..."
"I just can't remember names (or dates or my birthday!)as well as I used to..."
You get the drift. Everything sideways or haywire becomes a person's excuse--blaming the fact that aging is happening to you--a process everyone experiences everyday. Celebrated with markers and pics for babies, dreaded by anyone over 25. What gives?
As for health? 
"Aches and pains are to be expected--after all...."
"I just move slower than I used to....(moan, moan, creak)" 
"Oh, young people, I just can't keep up...."
May I remind us all that every time we use Age as an excuse, or fuss about the natural course of the planet around the sun, like no one else is having to deal with that as well...that 3 trillion cells full of your own genetic information are listening? And they have no ability to detect humor or mood (most likely) quite like they do something that is said with such conviction as fact. 
This is no small thing. I would think we would want all those guys showing up for work and not deciding to be no-shows cuz the boss said in their hearing that the place was shutting down soon! You know. Just in case!
On a side note. Or not so side. How much time do we waste with the 'negative' comments? How much do we believe our own mantra when in all truth it might be blarney (and probably is) and makes less than stellar use of the time and opportunity given to us by God for this really quick and very few laps around the Sun? 
I would think cherishing the time and not belittling it might be wiser.
So....I have decided to keep this lady at the forefront if nothing else, in honor of her example. If I am only half-way thru my Journey...and how do I know I am not? Then, no more 'running out of time' statements. No more, 'I missed that window' and 'that ship has sailed'. And no more, "well, I'm old so I probably can't learn that..." because you know, as long as you're here, you may as well make the best use of the Time given you. Learning is what this trip is all about, I wager. At least a large bit.
And without letting that press the life out of things:) surely, we've learned or are learning by now that taking those moments that come swiftly one right after the other are quite worth living right smack dab in the middle of every single day!