Recent signs in my life that I’m growing older—if not up:

• I drive around town with Sam the Yorkshire Terrier sitting in my lap.
• I fall asleep in my favorite easy chair watching TV after 9:00 p.m.
• I have a favorite easy chair.
• On Saturday mornings, I cannot sleep past 6:00 a.m.
• I bought blue jeans on sale at Costco (sign 1). Then I discovered they had a stretchy waist band (sign 2). After trying them on, I decided to keep them (sign 3).
• The candles on my birthday cake indicate that I missed any chance to have a mid-life crisis.
• I find myself using phrases like “Back in the day,” “In my time,” and “I don’t understand young people today.”
• Putting on a sweat shirt and pants after supper makes me happy. If supper is before 6:00, then I’m even happier.
• If I fall asleep warm and pain-free, then it’s been a GOOD day.
• I often awake at 2:00 a.m. to ponder the problems of the world.
• And staring at the dark ceiling does not generate any solutions.
• I lift with my legs.
• I try not to lift at all.
• I think before bending over . . . and then consider what else to do while I’m down there.
• I watch athletes and think: “They’re going to regret THAT in thirty years!”
• I no longer know all the answers. Some days I forget the questions.
• God has used the years to make me wise enough to know that I’m not wise enough.

So I’m growing older—if not always up. MOST days it beats the alternative.