Where was I when it happened?

Rules for Aging

This afternoon at work I shuffled through the mountain of papers on my desk no less than three times. While I was in the middle of the second or maybe the third time, looking for an errant sheet of paper I had already found and absentmindedly misplaced again, I prayed that no one in the tight quarters (one small office barely large enough for one person is shared by four of us...the heat generated is something else!) noticed what I was doing.

Which brings me to mention the book I am reading.....Rules for Aging by Roger Rosenblatt.

Rule # 2......Nobody is thinking about you.

Thank God.

Actually, I am finding this book immensely entertaining in several respects. First, because it so full of common sense. Secondly, why didn't I learn these things long ago when it might have counted. It could have changed direction my life was taking. It's incredible how many times I broke these rules. And I still do!

Each rule is like a little nugget full of wisdom. A light goes off in my head and I think, "oh yea....I sure broke that rule the time I............. (fill in the blank).

Rule # 1 .......... IT DOES NOT MATTER.

"Whatever you think matters - it doesn't."

I can not possibly agree with this one. Sure, I see the possibilities that it is inconsequential if you are late, early, there or not there in the BIG PICTURE of things. 10 days from now let alone 10 years from now, what will it matter if I was at that meeting? Or made that dental appointment? But in the short run, it sure as hell matters.

I see the domino effect.

I wish it didn't matter so much. Maybe that should be the belief that I can age gracefully with. It does not matter as much as I think it does. Or maybe, there are things that I think matter....making a lot of money, living in a big house, driving a nicer car, the material things that are not important. If I loose my job, I will not die or starve. I found that our this summer, that I can find another job. It might not be the same, but I will find another job.

Yet, so many things matter a lot to me. I guess the trick is to have the knowledge and experience to know what is important and is not.

So, the fact that I shuffled through my disorganized mess of paperwork that I drag from my desk to the car and then from the car back to the desk.....it matters that I found what I was looking for.

And it matters that the guys did not notice, or comment, that I am one disorganized chick.