AWARD WINNING AUTHOR, POET, SINGER,  MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, MOTHER, AND GRANDMOTHER,  RENAISSANCE WOMAN CYNTHIA ROSE LANE SHARES UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
ON AGING

BY: Cynthia Rose Lane

Author, singer, songwriter, motivational speaker, educator, business woman, wife, mother, and grandmother.  These are some of the ways I describe myself. But recently I added another self-identifying tag.  This identifier may be one of the most meaningful ones yet.  It is called “Senior.”

I didn’t consciously choose this identifier.  Society and perhaps life chose it for me.  As I went about my days and did the things I always do, subtle changes happened. They happened physically and psychologically.  I started giving what used to be routine decisions more careful thought.  Did I really need that new outfit or even want it?  Would a quiet evening at home be more rewarding than going out?  Then one day a friendly cashier mistook a lady standing in line with me for my daughter.  The lady appeared to be in her early fifties.  That’s when I thought, “Okay, I’ve arrived.”  It was a kind of epiphany.  At that moment I completed the transition from middle age to “Senior.”

I wondered how easy it had been for others to make the transition, especially women. Had they gone kicking and screaming into the cycle, or had they just let time have its way and just accepted the inevitable?  When the realization happened, how many gave into getting face lifts, liposuctions, tummy tucks, and other “maintenance repairs?”  What about the psychological aspects of being old in such a youth oriented culture?

After the store experience, I began noticing older people, listening to them talk and watching how they carried themselves.  I was compelled to notice because I had become one of them.  Quietly and subtly I had to pull the multi-colored “Senior” garment around me and let it become the fabric of my being.  I wanted to wear it well.  To help it fit more perfectly, I desired to see how it had been sewn, the texture of the fabric, and the cut of the bias.  Out of that desire came an adult ABC book of service to seniors. That book is called “Conscious Aging.”  While writing the book I considered the things that make aging so powerful and unique, and I tried to put those things into words.  In the process I realized that being a senior is a mighty and wondrous achievement. I had to let the world know, and one of the best ways I knew how was through writing. This is one of the ways I serve.

More than others, seniors have earned the right to serve by teaching.  Life’s valleys and mountains have honed their repertoire of skills and abilities.  In addition to serving through writing, I also try to serve through music.  My latest effort came as a result of witnessing a Chicago teen bludgeon his fellow student to death while onlookers watched.  I wondered how a little boy could grow up to be filled with such rage.  I had to do something, so I returned to the studio after a seven year hiatus.  The result was the creation of an album for youth called “Back To Basics: Music That Gives Young People Power.”  Like “Conscious Aging,” it is an attempt to serve.  Maybe it will keep a child from bullying and violence.  If the messages of empowerment offered in the music move one child, then my efforts to serve would not have been in vain.

As a senior I feel it is my duty and obligation to serve and to teach the youth.  After all, who better to lead the way than those who have earned the right through their years of overcoming life’s travails and testifying to its many joys?

You may reach Cynthia @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Visit her sites @:
www.outskirtspress.com/consciousaging
www.cdbaby.com/cd/cynthiarose2
Music Videos @ www.youtube.com/cynthiar2000
Blog Site@ cynthia2000.wordpress.com