It's never too late

Over the past few days, I've felt the full power of the phrase, "It's never too late."  Never to late to do or see or experience or express or sense the wildness of life, the sheer exuberance of drawing breath, of connecting with others, of being a walking universe upon this 3rd rock from the Sun.

I'll go that one further - it's never too late because it is always NOW.  There is no such thing as "too late."  A fact that a lot of us have a lot invested in poo pooing.  

My mother was in her late 80s when she finally felt safe enough to realize she hadn't a clue about her core self.  Born in 1910, she was raised to think that women were meant to be of use to others.  She was 10 years old when women got the vote - all those years before, her experience was of a culture where women were expected to share their husband's political beliefs. Just ten years before her birth, the last state in the union FINALLY made it legal for married women to own property & open bank accounts in their own name!  

Seeking a fresh understanding of herself was a big deal for Mom, about to enter her 90s.  It took courage, because her seeking intimidated the daylights out of some children.  She blew the false refuge of "it's too late" out of the water.  Tripping the "oldometer" toward 100, she said, "Phooey!" to assumed limitations & opened a way for everyone to celebrate the possibility of... everything.  

Which is why it irks my soul to read "It's never too late to be what you might have been."  Talk about phooey!  Mom didn't suddenly wake up to be what she might have been - she awoke to being all she was, the remarkable embodiment of every moment & person & experience in her life. 

It's never too late to wake up to all that we are, to embrace the person at this moment who's the sum total of all the moments - every one of them - that came before.   

As for, "Let today be the start of something new" - every day is the start of something new, it's just up to us what that will be.  

It's never too late to realize that every moment is an opportunity to wake up.  That is the real gist of "living happily ever after" - being awake.

It's never too late to be where we are, all of what we are, to the max that we are able.  That is true whatever our age.  Mom was just a couple months shy of 90 when she started writing her Mindwalker1910 postings;  by this time next year, the first grouping of them - 02/19-07/19/2000, under the title The Velveteen Grammie - will be published, fifteen years after our last good bye. 

It's never too late.  It took Mom to the last years of her life to finally arrive at a place where she could accept that her common life was uncommon to a lot of people, to where she could embrace in her heart that her stories might be helpful, that her insights might be experienced by youngers as much needed wisdom.  

Mom wasn't simply someone who embodied "It's never too late."  She was someone who irony in that phrase, because life isn't on a time schedule.  We limited being place our own limitations on what naturally would declare, "It takes as long as it takes."

I've learned it's never too late.  Never too late to find the love of your life, to find a state of peace with a once embattled parent-child relationship, to discover a connection to a long-gone brother, to find fresh appreciation & ever deeper love for a challenged sister. It's never too late - period.  It's just taking as long as it takes.

Wake up.  Stay awake.  Look around & celebrate the fact that it's never too late.  Free it to take as long as it takes.  Rejoice & be exceeding glad.