Survivors
Old is a good thing.
Some people never
get a chance to be old.
At what point
did I start bragging
about my age?
I don’t remember, but
here I am – 94!
Anyone that old
has survived a
mountain of things.
We’ve been at an
ugly stage of growing up,
sometimes scorned, bullied,
or the butt of the joke.
We’ve lived through
awkward, embarrassing
teenage years.
We’ve been hopelessly broke,
eating things like
cheese and rice balls and
endless hot dogs and beans.
Our husbands had to
go to war and leave us
back home with babies
and small children or
we lived in Army housing
on dusty bases in nowhere land.
We’ve survived marital
problems and problems
with our children, jobs,
money, neighbors, health,
heartbreak, and loss.
Some of us have had
to bury a child.
We have taken care of
aging parents and have
seen them to their
final resting places.
We have taken care
of everyone else,
often neglecting ourselves,
and we have cried alone.
But now we are old
and can tell our story.
Copyright © Barbara Peckham | Year Posted 2023
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