When you are 80 years old, what will matter to you the most?
Life once looked like a straight road. A path to a predetermined end that was so simple to follow that it would be like playing a board game.
Put your marker at the start, take your turn, roll the dice and see if you can get to the finish before anybody else with more stuff than you need. Life is not playing out that way for me, does it for anybody?
I know enough to know, that I do not know that I don’t know anything about what life might be like in a year from now, let alone in thirty-one years from now.
I can only take a blind guess at what I hope will matter to me if I am fortunate enough to join the ranks of the octogenarians.
I Will Have to Move It, Move It
I am going to be happy that I have my physical freedom. At 80, the machinery will be a bit worn out but it will all still work to propel me to whatever task I set before me.
Even though it takes a bit longer to get where I am going, I will still get there. There will be 
some aches and pains, even the best antique vehicle needs a bit of tender loving care, but that will not stop me.
It will matter to me that I am still an active participant in life, meeting with people and sharing stories, and still contributing to the lives of others around the world.
Being active is not the most important thing in life, but I think it is one of the things that allows me to be a participant rather than just an observer of life.
Still Writing after all These Years
Writing will still matter and still be a significant part of my life. I imagine there will be a bit more of an urgency to get all of my thoughts collected for posterity’s sake before the clock runs out. I am not sure what I will be writing about then because really I am not
sure what I will write about today until I do it, yet it does get done. There are an infinite number of thoughts, topics and interesting tidbits that need to be explored, discussed and thought about. Do my thoughts really matter?
They do to me and that is all that really counts. By the time I am 80 there will be so many different thoughts that I have recorded that I may have forgotten all of them.
I know this will happen because it already does. Writing will definitely still be important to me.
Sit a Spell, Tell Me About It
The way that we interact with each other is going to be more important to me when I am 80 than it is today. I know it will matter to me because so many people have already made 
an impact on my life, some will never know the permanent marks they left on my heart, mind, and soul.
Yet those marks will be there none the less and I do not think that the next thirty years are going to be filled with any less interaction, in fact, I am seeking much, much more. Relationships of a personal nature are the way that we connect directly with other people and share our thoughts and accept the thoughts of others.
It may be the most important thing or just one of several, but to share what you know, think and feel with others and to be well received is a great gift. It may even fool you into thinking that you know something about life. I am sure that life will still have a twisted sense of humor when I am 80 as it did when I was 40 or 30 or 10.
The World Will Matter Then As It Does Now
Even if I make it to the ripe old age of 80, I think the thing that will matter to me most is what I can contribute to the happiness of others.
(A little poem I like, What Will Matter by Micheal Josephson)
Can I help someone through a difficult moment by letting them know that no matter how dark the sky is and how the storm howls there will be an ending to the storm and the sun will come out again?
No bad time lasts forever, although that is little consolation for the people going through them. Eventually, circumstances change as they must and all things even tough times come to their inevitable conclusion. Leaving behind a greater inner strength, a stronger character and a human being with more depth and understanding.
The hope that all pain and despair can have an ending eventually is a message that I not only want to share but feel compelled to print. Almost everything that I write is around this message, mostly subconsciously, but I have seen the dark, dark night and had no light to mark the dawn. It will mean the most to me to mark the dawn for all those who are looking for a sign of hope. You matter now and you will matter then. We are all connected after all and you are only as alone and isolated as you choose to be.
There is an understanding that we see in aging for many people that there is a gentle failing of the power of youth, that fades over time, and the physical promise of a young person is slowly but inevitably replaced with a spiritual understanding about life and its fragility.
When I am 80 I imagine I will understand this dance, look back and see the errors of my ways and see the foolishness involved in getting upset about it all when all things were working as they should or could.
When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?
I’m not tryin’ to cause no big sensation, just talkin’ bout my generation!! Even at 80!!
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