I've had students visiting lately. They are an impressive lot. Merchant Marine Academy, Harvard, Georgia State, and Columbus State in the past week. They were happy and doing well. My little Harvard girl jumped right into an a cappella singing group on campus. Yea for her.

There is a lot about aging that comes in the form of unpleasant surprises. Things hurt. You run out of energy and have to sit down. The younger people are still running around. 50's are much different than 40's. Not to say there aren't some good things. Wisdom is simply the accumulation of treasures that you pluck from the water of life as it flows by. You get into fewer jams because you anticipate the jams. Younger people think you are nuts with the painstaking deliberate style that you use to prepare everything. You simply know that it has to be done that carefully or it may come back and bite you. But it hardly offsets the aches and pains. Who knew you weren't going to be able to eat what you wanted. I miss cheese, and I miss eggs. Greasy food, that's a killer. Who knew the doctor would say to you, "You aren't a kid. You should stop playing so hard or you are going to get into trouble." And so I had to stop running and playing. Whoever thought hair would be so problematic. It thins out, changes color and texture and becomes impossible to manage. I remember when it was an asset.

And the pills. Two of these, two of those, and don't forget the other ones. It is some consolation I guess when the doctor says "If you have to have a blood disease, you picked a good one."

How many Thanksgivings and Christmases are left. How many spring flowers. I'm determined to enjoy them.

I'm much more interested in planting things than I used to be.