Aging

Aging to some people is extremely terrifying and the belief that their life will soon come to a sudden halt. As Merrill-Foster says "There is some rage in aging-a disbelief that ones's life has rounded its last curve and this stretch to road leads to death." I know for sure that the most lively and vital human being that I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, was a sixty five year old man, who is better known as my"Poppy". He was a very loving, caring man, as well as a superb father and grandfather. He gave off an incredibly positive aura and woke up every morning with a pleasantly huge smile on is face. Despite his age he was always active. Weather it was playing ball with his grandchildren or just going for daily strolls, he never wasted a moment. When tragedy struck him one cold, gloomy day in the year 2001, a lot changed but his attitude, never.

Poppy experienced a heart attack that year, so severe that everyone knew it was only a matter of time. One would think that this type of tragedy would destroy his spirits, but he persisted. Everyday that I visited him within the hospital he still had that pleasantly huge smile upon his face and spoke with such courage and grace. Never a stutter in his words or a tear from his eyes. Poppy knew his time was soon to come and he embraced death and never once shown a sign of shying away from it. "Don't cry when I pass away. Keep with you the memories." Those strong, comforting words truly did prove to me why this man was my role-model and why I look at life now as a road that should be taken with a pleasantly huge smile on my face and with memories kept close to my heart.