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I recently found out that I am going to be a grandfather for the first time. I know that I am of the age to be a grandfather, but until certain events happen, you really don’t think of your life in a particular phase. Life’s events are what mark our feelings of age, more so than the actual numbers. Feeling older is really an aspect of the mind but life events are the awakenings that bring the realization of new phases.

Early youth is all about waiting to be old enough to make your own decisions....like running with scissors, or staying up as long as you want to. We have no idea at all at that early stage how incredibly lucky we are!

As we become teenagers, we still want that independence, and we long for it, but we have a decided goal of that twenty-first year. Perhaps it’s the legal drinking age thing, but I think it’s more than that. It’s the time when you think you will be living by most of your own decisions. You will begin to say no to older and wiser people. It is really when we only begin to learn about real life.

While we speed along through our second and third decades, we begin to feel some hints of maturity, especially as we discover our physical bodies begin to react differently to things we used to do without thought. This may be the very first signs to us that we are aging, but we tend to dismiss the aches and pains, unless we push ourselves to far and have some real physical issues.

When we hit the phase of our fourth decade, we begin the age of enlightenment, when we actually start to use our brains, before we act and react without thinking. We begin to think of our mortality and plan for a possible longer life of responsibilities. We start to think about things we could have done differently and wonder how and what we will face in the future. We still don’t take old age very seriously, as we tend to think we still have time to deal with that.

My current phase of life is the last that I can practically give a perspective of, as one of the things I have come to know is what my mother often said to all of us, “You don’t know what it’s like!” We knew what she meant, but as I approach the end of my fifth decade, I am beginning to feel what she meant, and that you REALLY cannot know what any age is, until you reach it and live it.

I used to think when I would be approaching my 60’s, I would actually be old. What I am discovering is, that I don’t know what old is and I won’t know that until I reach it, whenever that may be. I find that I am beginning a phase in my life when I finally have the courage and confidence to do things that I didn’t think I would ever be able to do. Now, I’m not talking about jumping out of planes, but I am realizing that the only thing that ever has held me back from my pursuing dreams, was myself. It wasn’t all of the things I blamed, such as I don’t have time, I don’t have that much money, or I’m only daydreaming.

There are many who find this confidence at earlier ages, or perhaps they are just being foolish due to immaturity, but their passion made them succeed. Who knows? I do know that I have found that the secret to success is not actually becoming wealthy or powerful, but that it is the “knowing” that you can and have a true purpose to follow. You may not know how to make it happen, as that is still something to learn and work at. What you find is that just about anything is possible, if you have the will to keep on going, as long as it involves your best capabilities and your true passions. Success or failure are only challenges to find solutions to or work around.

Now, my oldest daughter is pregnant, after she worked hard to achieve an excellent start to life, by finding her passion as a teacher, working hard to make that happen, without giving up along the way, and is now entering her phase in life as a mother and beginning her family. The aspect of becoming a grandfather, along with the “knowing” of pursuing my dreams, is making this phase of my life, perhaps one of most exciting yet!

So although I am fully aware that my becoming a grandfather is a sign of growing older, what I “know” is that it is only a sign of a new wonderful phase of life that I am blessed to enjoy! I’ll be sure to let you all know when I “know” that I am old...whenever that happens!