Senior Dream

As I was reading Donna Otto's book Finding Your Purpose as a Mom last night, I had to pause to ponder the following words:

Have you ever stopped to envision what kind of old person you want to be? How you want to be remembered by others? It's an interesting exercise that can tell you a lot about yourself and help you make important choices now...From the time I was quite a young woman, I have seen myself as a gray-haired teacher who derives energy and pleasure from helping younger women learn to manage their lives. My friends laughed at me and raised their eyebrows because I thought a lot about being old. But my vision of a lively and useful old age has shaped my decisions along the way, helped me form goals, and brought me motivation as I worked to grow into the older woman I wanted to be. Today, I'm happily living out the "senior dream" I've always had for my life.

This concept of a senior dream was new for me. It's not as if I've never thought about the future and things I want to accomplish as I get older, but the idea of having a specific vision for who I want to be as an older woman brought a different focus to my thoughts. I don't think I have a solid senior dream yet, but I'd like to spend some time thinking about it because I agree that it's an excellent way to guide choices that are made now.

As I think about all of this now, I'm reminded of my dad because, from time to time, he brings up what he wants written in his obituary. My obituary is the last thing from my mind--I'm hoping I have a lot of time yet before that needs to be written and, besides, by the time it actually does need to be written, I won't care a bit about what it says. :) But not so for my dad! I was talking recently with someone (I don't even remember who it was) who said that her parents also talked a lot about what they wanted in their obituaries so I guess my dad's not the only crazy one. :)

Anyway, on a serious note (actually, I guess the last paragraph was serious, too, since it's hard to write about obituaries and NOT be serious!), it seems like my dad does have a senior dream that is shaping his life, and I admire that a lot.