The Beauty Of Aging

As I mark another birthday, I think of what my younger self didn’t know.

Sarah Hampson

Do you ever look at pictures of yourself from years ago and wonder what that person was thinking?

Of course, there are some photos that clearly pinpoint a feeling. Like on the day of your wedding. And, for me, images of myself with my boys when they were babies. Some photos remind me of the exhaustion of motherhood with three boys born within 5 years. And some speak to me of the utter joy of their swishy bodies and delightful curiosity about the world.

“The world is upside down,” squealed Luke, my four-year-old one day when he looked down at a reflection in a puddle. He was the child who called eyebrows “eyebrowns” - which, yes, clever boy, they are. That boy is my youngest, now 35 and 6ft 5”.

It all goes so fast, doesn’t it? Today is my birthday. I am writing this Substack on the day before, always a time of reflection for me, on the cusp on another year. What will happen? What more will I learn? What will I welcome? What will I accomplish? What will I mourn the loss of?