Clothe: to dress (someone) in a particular type of clothing

Yesterday I put on one of my favorite pieces of clothing, an aqua-colored fleece, quarter-zip, mock turtleneck. The logo on it is the name of a company that makes outdoor clothing for the young and active. While labels and logos are items that have never impressed me much since I clothe myself for softness and comfort, it occurred to me that some might interpret my clothing as not age appropriate. While I am beyond  worrying about such judgments at my age and station in life, I did pause and begin to muse, asking myself, “How does one clothe oneself for elderhood?” “C” is for (to) clothe.

The quote on the right begins to answer my question.  I am clothed as the person I have become.  More importantly, I may choose how I want to clothe the rest of my elderhood.  As I have thought and shared with others many times, we are – in the opinion of the existentialist philosophers – the sum total of the choices we have made up to the present.  

Consequently, I have become a gifted elder who has made good choices and bad choices. I am an individual who struggled with the “g” word (gifted) throughout most of her life because she chose self-doubt over owning her reality. I have become who I am because I am a spiritual being who believes and lives the belief that a prime being, a creator, put the universe into motion and engendered a force that we call Love. It is our mission to be the continuation of that force. I have become who I am because 42 years ago I married my spouse and we, together, have raised two amazing sons. I have become who I am because I am an educator who, when she did it right, enabled and empowered her students to self-actualize. 

But what shall I become? Or, better stated, what do I choose to become as a gifted elder?

• I choose to be a truth-sayer,  sharing the important truths with my loved ones now, when they need saying.
• I choose to continue to be open to the newness of life and not to allow the pain and difficulties of aging to tint its beauty.
• I choose to continue to create, to instill in others a sense of hope for this age beyond adulthood.
• I choose to relinquish the spotlight to the younger. I had my days in the sun and what I do now, I do with humble spirit, as an elder.
• I choose to clothe myself in gifted elderhood, to be a change agent in my own life and not to passively allow my life to happen to me.

What do you choose to become?

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z (2016)  Challenge. Click here. to see all of the blogs in the A to Z Challenge. 

Reference:

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. http://www.merriam-webster.com

* Photo by Hannah Morgan on Unsplash (https://goo.gl/7cMY9V)                                         **Quote by unknown author (https://goo.gl/AmVUFW).