When I Grow Old

I guess I have gotten to the age where I no longer say, "when I grow-up", now I think instead about how I want to grow old.

I had a vision of what I would like that to look like yesterday. Jo and I picked up our CSA produce share on 14th Street and met up with Em for a quick drink in an outdoor garden in the East Village. Em proceeded to lead us through the Japanese market, gathering exotic ingredients and a few beautiful squid. From there we wandered over to a fantastic Spanish wine shop Tinto Fino on our way to Kaitlin's apartment. We spent the evening cooking our bounty, sipping our wine and laughing together on Kaitlin's terrace.

Kaitlin rushed off to a date and we proceeded back up to the village for a nightcap. We mused, waxed philosophical and reminisced for a bit before heading back out into the warm summer evening to make our way home. I looked at my amazing girls, listened to the sound of their voices dancing around me and smiled.

I could spend my days this way. Cooking, sharing, living each meal like an event. I think I would like to have nightly dinner parties. Smaller ones during the week, with one or two good friends and endless interesting conversation. I would have larger ones too, the classic dinner parties from my grandparents' era, right down to cocktail hour and after dinner drinks.

I am collecting phenomenal people, they will fill my life like chotchkies fill the homes of old Midwestern women. I have learned that good friends are the most valuable thing one can aspire to have in their life. People are interesting, they are important, and contrary to popular belief, relationships must be cultivated like a garden. It is worth the effort, in the end it makes all the difference. Children grow-up and leave, sometimes husbands do too! Friends, when cared for and tended to, they can last forever.

Yes, I had a vision of a beautiful old woman last night. She has a full, beautiful life, stories of a life well lived and the warmth of love rendering her face luminescent. That is who I want to be when I grow old.