Rejuvenation – the easy way!

Feeling jaded, cynical, a bit “over-the-hill”. Stuck in your mounting years? Forget the botox,

forget the plastic surgery, never mind anything costly, I have found the fountain of youth: in the youth themselves.

I am lucky enough to know a large variety of persons and benefit from a great circle of friends of all ages.  If I find those 20 years older than myself ever so knowledgeable – and some of my most fascinating friends are in their 80s and even 90s – if you want energy, hope in the future and a positive faith in what might become of the planet – hang out with the younger generation.

On New Year’s Eve we ranged from 20 to 91 and every age in between. One could discuss engineering, travel, literature, agriculture, culture, studies, etc. (and that in no way encompasses all that was discussed). I didn’t notice any lack of conversation in the 6 hours of the evening.

Then I had the pleasure of being invited for dinner with young adults. What a party, in all the positive terms of the word: stimulating (and sometimes confrontational) conversation, great (and healthy) food, and a young child just learning to walk. Now, my friends – and even acquaintances – know that I have a “thing” for babies and young children: it’s perhaps not a compliment to me that they look at me and laugh, but, hey the pleasure of making anyone smile is one that I’ll take every time, regardless of the why. This 1-year-old grinned, let go of the table and “walked” the two steps into my arms: I’m in love.

Then her parents, my own two sons and a very close friend proceeded to discuss everything under the sun – and some things in the universe. Hard tearing myself away, but I had to drive all the way back across town. The French have a saying: “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. The concerns of young adults today are still the age-old concerns: how to be productive in their careers (or how to find a career/job), how to have a happy life, how to raise their children to be decent people, but they have added one that turns up perhaps more often than in my younger years: how to help the planet and others.

It is all to their honor and I can highly recommend an evening with other generations if you want to improve your own life and “stay young”.

Thanks M&D, S, S, D and Sophie for a wonderful evening - I can continue to avoid surgery as only accumulating laugh lines and proof that I am still living.