What is Age?

For age is opportunity no less than youth itself,
Though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars invisible by day.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dear Diary,

I promise, this is the last post about age but I have been working on this composite image of my grandmother and her writing for some time and today is her birthday.  She was born in 1890 and this is a portrait her brother-in-law took of her at 16.  It is just a bit of coincidence that I was dwelling on age this week.  

My grandmother was my bedrock, my anchor and one of the most important people in my life.  I hope I've inherited her quiet strength, her optimism and her outlook on life.  Last night, the PBS News Hour did a feature on a Flossie Lewis, a 92 year old former teacher.  She was amazing.  Although confined to a wheelchair she had such a positive view of life.  As she said, and my dear grandmother would surely concur, we may not be able to stop the aging of our bodies but we can still retain that 15 year old's sense of possibility, of hope and of the joy of just living each day.  So very true...