Médée

“What a drag it is gettin’ old,” sang Mick Jagger.

When he was 22.

Tragic.

Beside being the name of the bay this boat house seems to be barely standing on the shore of, Médée, Medea in English, is the star of a Greek tragedy. OK. Appropriate enough for titling the poem. 😉 

Of course, getting old is at least as much a privilege, because not everyone gets there. My 58th year was an odd one for my sense of mortality. It’s the year in which I outlived my father’s much-too-brief life span. This year I’ll turn 63, and if I can make it another 20, I’ll nearly catch up to my mother, who made it to 84 by a whisker. Hers was a good life, well-lived and loved. I know she was grateful for every year of it, even the more difficult one at the last.

Twenty years. I could live and love with that.  

Day by day. Moment to moment. Cherish them all.

I needed that reminder today. So, thanks for that Médée.