Sepia Saturday 351: Aging

For the prompt this week, we have Bertha Wegmann, a Danish painter, young and old.

“When you're young, you always feel that life hasn't yet begun—that "life" is always scheduled to begin next week, next month, next year, after the holidays—whenever. But then suddenly you're old and the scheduled life didn't arrive. You find yourself asking, 'Well then, exactly what was it I was having—that interlude—the scrambly madness—all that time I had before?” 

― Douglas Coupland, Life After God

This week was an easy match. The first photo is of my Mom at age 32 and the second is of her in her late 80's. I'm writing this on January 10th which would be her 106th birthday. She would kill me if she knew I'd posted the older version. I think she aged pretty well but she worried over every line and wrinkle. She stayed physically in good shape until she died...no major illnesses save a gall bladder removal and a broken hip. Mentally....not so good. She had dementia when she died which included a personality change and some delusions, but her memory of people stayed pretty good.

The second set of pictures is my mother-in-law, Patty. In the first photo, she was about 30 and in the second photo about 95. She died at 97 unable to move around much but with an intact memory and all her marbles.

“The curse of mortality. You spend the first portion of your life learning, growing stronger, more capable. And then, through no fault of your own, your body begins to fail. You regress. Strong limbs become feeble, keen senses grow dull, hardy constitutions deteriorate. Beauty withers. Organs quit. You remember yourself in your prime, and wonder where that person went. As your wisdom and experience are peaking, your traitorous body becomes a prison.” 
― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

And how about man's best friend? Photo by Amanda Jones of Lily as a puppy and as a senior
dog citizen.