1 Books Published by Kingdom Publishing Group on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Overview
Welcome to my world. This lighthearted humorous book is a tapestry woven with the threads of my life, beginning with a childhood influenced by profound faith in God and deep family ties. In this colorful account, I invite you into my inner sanctum where I reveal some of my deepest secrets. My hope is to lay out a fresh perspective to the advent of getting old. Having survived life’s twists and turns until now, I have more than earned the right to raise two important questions: Where do I go from here? What happens after reaching middle age and retirement?

Come join me in my conspiracy and I’ll help you to build a strong positive attitude and develop a sense of humor as you go about the business of your life. If we use my own experiences and personal reflections as a guide, I’m convinced that our resourcefulness and wisdom will increase with age. I encourage you to develop a healthy mind and body, and I challenge you to take charge of your own destiny. Now is the time to boldly move forward into our future. We still have many places to go and much to do. Let’s get out there and do it together, shall we?

Introduction

This work is purely nonfiction. Some of the names have been changed to protect me. If any of the people I wrote about become unhappy or disagree with what I wrote, they might come after me. I’m a coward, you know. As you’ll see later I’ve always had my dear sister Shirley as my own personal “body guard.” You’ll have to work hard to identify yourselves, and if you think you see yourself in print, I can always deny that you were the person tagged. This naming thing is my very clever way of making you reflect on your own lives and think about what you can accomplish in the future. If you get old in the process it’s your own fault. As I say in my confessions, I don’t intend to go there. I shall remain forever young. And that’s my final say.

I am not an expert on aging. As you read on, you’ll see that I’m not an expert on anything. I will never be an expert on getting old, because I don’t intend to go there. Would you like to know why? My positive attitude will keep me active both physically and mentally. That’s my recipe for staying young. Some say that hard work is the key to keeping old age at bay. No problem here. I’ve always worked hard. I might as well do myself some good. The way I see it, if I work hard for the next 20 years, I’ll be 69 in 2030. How do you like my mathematical formula? I guess I have to continue to have birthdays like everyone else, but at this point, age is irrelevant. It has become a minor factor in my life.

This is why I want to share my thoughts and feelings about getting old with you. You see, getting old is not my cup of tea, so I’m not traveling down that road. If I am able to pray daily and to believe that tomorrow will be a better day, I won’t grow old. When I know I can give back something to someone out there who is in need, then I won’t grow old. Why should I grow old when I don’t have to? If I grow old, then those older than me will become ancient. I’m not that mean a person. Of course I’m in denial, and will probably stay in denial forever. I won’t go there and neither should you. We must continue to do what we do, we can even do more. My philosophy of life is: The best is yet to come!

As a recent retiree, I expressed these exact sentiments in a poem that I reflected upon a very long time. I wanted in particular to say that I personally have great optimism and am confident in my worth as a senior citizen. I intend to continue working to make this world a better place through storytelling, reciting poetry, and writing. I am sharing this optimism with you in the poem I wrote and recited for my retirement celebration in January 2009.