Project: Feeling Our Age

Ellen MW Age 70 , 2023

Acrylic  
30 x 24 in

Enjoy the pleasures, and freedoms that comes with age Long ago I hitchhiked from college to Salem Hospital to meet my niece and nephew on the second day of their lives. I held them both and looked into their eyes with amazement. I have watched Amy grow from that helpless infant into a cancer researcher. My older brother Joe, Amy’s uncle contracted prostate cancer when she was in medical school, which inspired her to investigate prostate cancer. Now she is in charge of a prostate Center Research Center and lectures at conferences around the world on the subject. Because of my age I get to see the results of choices people make good and bad. My long perspective allows me to understand the human condition better than I ever have. I am blessed with four children, many nieces, nephews and a few greats. The gift of growing old is to watch my family strive and learn with their personal strengths. As I leave my 60s and enter my 70s I appreciate my health, time to play tennis and pickleball with friends and the skills that earned my living. Now I feel I have earned the pleasures of the wonderful surprises of grandchildren, an uncomplicated life and the freedom that goes with feeling my age. I appreciate the companionship of a handsome, caring man, best traveling partner ever to grow old with me. I am blessed.