Forever Young

This week, I had a gig for a Christmas party at a local restaurant. I was doing backup vocals for a Rod Stewart impersonator. I always love to do these gigs, as it is relatively easy for me, (I don't have to sing lead on 3/4 of the songs for 3 or 4 hours) and I always like "rockin' out" on the music....and a plus...I get a good workout...dancing for three hours...

One of the songs that we do is "Forever Young"---(a great number, one that I like to do because I sing in unison on the chorus at first, then break out in three part harmony---I get to do the high notes----and I love the feel of it...) But, for some reason, this time the words of the song really hit me. So I started to ponder this, in lieu of what has been happening in my life lately, and what is it that keeps one "forever young"?

Now,.....I am what they call a "young at heart". Perhaps you have heard of this term before... It is usually applied to people that seem more ageless, having a youthful spirit. You can usually spot one of us.....because of our dress, speech, the way we walk, our music, the way we refuse to let our bodies dictate what we do, and also never listen to what other people feel is the way we should "behave" when we reach a certain age...

I know that there are others of us out there...

I still remember this old woman in the rest home that we used to visit in California with my son's class. She always wore makeup and had her hair done, and was always brightly and stylishly dressed... (hmmmm....kind of like me....) But, one week, as she was chatting animatedly, in a very young, vibrant voice...she stopped and looked a little lost....then looking at me full in the face, she said: "I don't understand how I got to be here. I feel so very young inside and I don't know why I am in an old folks home.......it all happened so fast..."

At that time, I was only in my late thirties and looked like I was in my mid twenties, so I laughed and thought that I would be young forever...

And so, I go through the world....in a little bubble.....happy with my existence....always looking and thinking that other people are getting old....how sad....but not me.... Then, every once in a while something happens to shake me up....and remove me from my fantasy land. Reality gets really close and I don't like it ONE BIT!!

Case in point...my body starts to not cooperate when my youthful brain tells it to...

So......the week of Thanksgiving, when I woke up with the worst sore throat of the century, and took two weeks to conquer it, then got a migraine the next week, then woke up in the middle of the night last week with intense bladder pain----(you know what I mean----the kind where you feel your bottom is falling out every time you pee) and after getting on antibiotics, proceeded to have the worst headaches that I have ever had for four days in a row. (resulting in going to the emergency room and getting a morphine type drug to finally get rid of it) Yup......I finally started to feel like I was getting old!

So, naturally I have been moving a bit slower this last month than my usual energetic self....and then another example of my mortality hits me in the face, when my 5 year old, Aydan, after watching me slowly shuffle around the apartment, all drugged up, trying to get his breakfast, remarks: "Hey Mom....what's wrong with you? .....You are walking like a grandma!"

AAARRGGGGHHH........................Out of the mouth of babes....

Ok,....so I can now do one of two things.... I can realize that my body is getting older, and I can slow down and take up crafts, and cross stitch or something....

Or....I can get back off my butt, start exercising again,......I've fallen out of the habit, as I hadn't been feeling good----(and as I'm a bit of an exercise fanatic....I don't feel good unless I feel sore)----keep wearing my funky clothes, ignore the new wrinkles that come every few months now, keep dancing and singing with the various bands that I'm in, and continue doing what I feel like....no matter what my body says...

Well, I guess its not brain surgery as to which one I will pick...I can't help it...I will be going strong until I drop dead someday... Much like my grandfather, who died with an brain anneurism after a night of dancing, before he was to haul hay that morning.....ahhhhh....what a way to go....

Until that next time....when I am walking past a bank on a street (you know the ones....they have huge windows and everyone can't help but look at their reflection when they are walking by)....and I glance at my reflection, take a sharp breath as I see an older version of my real self reflected, and then choose to ignore the vision, as I know how old I really am........inside....

Well...I better go...I've got to get my hair dyed...
What color? Light blonde, of course....it blends in better with the gray that I don't have.....