Growing Older..Do you regret or are you proud?

בס''ד

One day last week, as I was surfing my Face Book page, a poster appeared saying:
DO NOT REGRET GROWING OLDER. IT IS A PRIVILEGE DENIED TO MANY. 

I shared the poster and commented..I never understood why some people want to remain 39 forever...Guess they just don't see the Bracha that has been handed to them...

My friends wrote in the comment section: Yes it is. Volunteering my time for 15 years in the Chevra Kadisha back in Hamilton, taught me that very valuable lesson. I just enjoy growing old and becoming an 'old geezer', so far I've made it to 70... I'm with Miriam, Never was embarrassed of my age [48]. Have a friend less than a year older who will never say her age and gets upset if asked. Old school...An another way of looking at age..a friend commented: it depends on the goal. If you want to reach 120, you can't stay at any age. If you want to have children and the doctors say 38 is too old, then staying 35 or so makes a lot of sense to me.

Personally for me, I don't want to be 39 any more. When I was 39, I was living in Canada, working 2 jobs, raising my young family, and chief cook, cleaner and bottle washer at home. Life was tough.

As I have gotten older, I now realize age is just a number...it is the amount of years Hashem has already blessed me with. And, please don't get me wrong...I am truly blessed. My husband and I just celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. I still work part-time, but I'm my boss and I choose my days and hours. I'm still chief cook, cleaner and bottle washer, but instead of raising a young family, I shep nachas from my 13 grandchildren and enjoy watching my children raise their families.

I joined a Face Book group called Sixty and Me. https://www.facebook.com/sixtyandme
Sixty and Me is about reinventing and celebrating the next amazing chapter of your life as a 60 year old woman. The group welcomes a community of like minded women who don't feel old, but who are passionate about living life, embracing change, trying new things, meeting new friends, and exploring new lifestyles. 

Today, the group administrator posted this poster and asks this question: When someone asks you how old you are, what do you say?

With permission, I am posting what my friend and columnist Yocheved Miriam Russo so eloquently answered:
Assuming that you're financially secure, once you get to be 60 or so, it's easy to admit how old you are -- you can even be proud of having reached that age, getting prouder as the years go by. But if you're still in the job market, competing against "young" people who allegedly are more energetic, more knowledgeable, more up on industry trends, easier to work with (not so set in their ways), who "fit in" with the other staff more easily -- not to mention that young people are generally more pleasant to look at, and who will work for less money -- then it's much, much harder. That's especially true for women -- men grow older, and they become more distinguished, more respected. Women grow older, and we become .... invisible. And in Israel, magnify those problems by a factor of ten -- here, employment ads unabashedly advertise for "young" men and women. If you're approaching 50 -- let alone be over that age -- it's generally conceded that it's going to be near-impossible for you to get a job as someone's employee. So yes, "being a senior is a blessing" -- of course it is. But not having to find a way to support yourself in your 50's, 60's and even 70's, is an even bigger blessing -- If you need to earn an income, then growing older isn't nearly so pleasant.

Smiling, I answer, "I am 67 and I am proud!" 

Until next time..feel free to answer the question and please share. 
Miriam