As my 62nd birthday approaches... <br />I will again be celebrating my 31st. <br />With familiar gratitude. <br />And with God's hopeful blessing. <br /> <br />'You'll be 62! <br />Not 31. <br />Get real! ' <br /> <br />I look at it this way... <br />When I arrived at 60? <br />I felt as if I had won a championship. <br />With some wonderful memories. <br />And being with both my parents... <br />When their separate deaths approached. <br />And thinking of them as if they were my children, <br />I had to protect. <br />To hear them say I love you... <br />And other things they to me confessed, <br />Was a divine time. <br /> <br />Don't get me wrong... <br />I'm not wishing to stop time, <br />Or wish to travel back into it! <br /> <br />I cried like a baby when I turned 31. <br />Call me what you wish. <br />But I had done my patriotic thing. <br />And I was in and out of the military, <br />Ten years 'prior' before I did this. <br />Married, divorced AND experienced with a profession. <br />And unafraid to ask or answer any question. <br />Yet... <br />31 felt as if I had lived a lifetime. <br />Until I became 61 and felt younger. <br />How? <br />Hey... <br />It was my first time at it. <br /> <br />However... <br />31 was my turning point. <br />That's why I celebrate it. <br />And with God's blessing... <br />It will be my 31st anniversary of finding myself. <br />And having the peace of mind at 62... <br />To say and do as I please. <br />Within reason. <br />And with God's approval! <br /> <br />Plus... <br />I can say I've earned the right to be 62. <br />And 'any' and every age below it! <br />How about you?<br /><br />Lawrence S. Pertillar<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/62/
