"I've Grown Old"

After recently viewing the new version of True Grit, I have realized how quickly the years have gone by since I saw the original version with John Wayne. It was 1969, and my husband and I were college students at the University of Mississippi. We had a one-year-old daughter and were still in our twenties. The world "so various, so beautiful, so new" lay before us. Having grown up in underclass, or nearly so, households, we were excited about the move into the middle class with all its possibilities. Now, some forty plus years later, I can identify with the latest view of life from the 2010 version of the film. Rooster Cogburn runs across the landscape near the end of the film carrying Mattie Ross in his arms. Time is of the essence since she has been bitten by a poisonous snake. He exclaims, "I've grown old." So have we all.

Since we are just a few days into 2011, the time is always ripe for setting new goals and resolutions. I am proud to say that I have kept quite a few of my last year's plans: to lose weight (forty-three pounds last year), to write down a "quietly joyful moment" each day of the year, and to love and see my family more. The year just past was a good one. We enjoyed a great trip to Seattle and to Victoria, B.C. to see our daughter and grandson last June. We were able to be together as a family for a short week along with our son and two grandchildren from Little Rock.

This year I want to continue my resolutions from 2010 but also add a few more. I want to write more stories and poems. I have been blessed to read two pieces recently on NPR's "Tales from the South" program, and I hope to submit more for consideration. I want to pursue getting my novel published, which has essentially sat in a drawer since I completed it in 2004. I have realized that even at age sixty-six that one's productive years do not have to be over.

Yes, the years do go by so quickly. I always remember the old adage though that it's not the number of years one has but the quality that's important. I hope to live life to the utmost in the time I have remaining--before the next version of True Grit.