What does it feel like to be really old?

What could be more telling than the Preacher's picture of old age - the "days of trouble" - in Ecclesiastes 12:

Remember your Creator

in the days of your youth,

before the days of trouble come

and the years approach when you will say,

“I find no pleasure in them”—

2 before the sun and the light

and the moon and the stars grow dark,

and the clouds return after the rain;

3 when the keepers of the house tremble,

and the strong men stoop,

when the grinders cease because they are few,

and those looking through the windows grow dim;

4 when the doors to the street are closed

and the sound of grinding fades;

when people rise up at the sound of birds,

but all their songs grow faint;

5 when people are afraid of heights

and of dangers in the streets;

when the almond tree blossoms

and the grasshopper drags itself along

and desire no longer is stirred.

Then people go to their eternal home

and mourners go about the streets.

Some things don't change!

Here is another resource shared with me:

NOVELS ABOUT AGING

The Stone Angel Speaks: Listening to Older Women’s Voices

Sage-ing with Creative Spirit, Grace & Gratitude || A Journal of the Arts & Aging

Persimmon Tree

RESOURCES on the Spirit of Nature

Books

Berry, Thomas. Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community (edited by M. E. Tucker). Berkeley: The University of California Press, 2006.

Berry, Wendell. A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997. Berkeley CA: Counterpoint Press, 1999.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Mariner Books, 2002 (orig. 1962).

Lane, Beldan. The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality. Oxford UK: Oxford University, 2007.

Merton, Thomas. When the Trees Say Nothing (edited by K. Deignan). Notre Dame IN: Ave Maria Press, 2003.

Strand, Clark. Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey. Winnipeg MB: Hyperion, 1998.

Suzuki, David. Sacred Balance. Vancouver BC: Greystone Books, 2007.

Websites

National Senior Conservation Corps

Age-Friendly Communities (UN guidelines for easy access to nature for all)

Special Thanks to a friend who researches information for me

What an interesting activity that could be... to get all your 'Oldies' to write (or have written for them) ...how being old feels for them!! We all talk about it with them.. but to actually put words on paper and then collate it all, might prove VERY interesting!( Jen. Tamborine Mt.)