Pat Bean's blog

Aging My Way

“Today is my favorite day,” said Winnie the Pooh.”

Well, since today, Jan. 18, is Winnie the Pooh Day, it’s a good day for him to say that. But I think this is how this loveable cartoon character begins every day.

          It’s a great way to look at life, and one I’m striving to adopt for 2023, even if I’m had to make a few recent changes in my lifestyle, like moving from a third-floor to a ground floor apartment and using a rollator if I’m going to walk more than half a block.

Pride, be damned, I would rather walk, which the rollator allows me to do pain-free, than be a couch potato. So, yes, today is a very good day.

But looking back — which is something you do a lot of when you’re 83 – I realize I’ve had thousands of great days, like the ones each of my five children were born, and the grands and the greats in the years following.

Then there was the day I walked into a newspaper newsroom, and truly felt at home for the first time in my life. It would continue to feel that way for the next 37 years. I was truly blessed for finding work and a career that made me happy.

I delighted in the days that I took grandkids on their first roller coaster rides. And how can I ever forget my first ride down a river through white-water rapids, something that would continue to give me unrestrained joy for the next 25 years.

And the days I bounced around in an open-to-the-sky Land Rover chasing African wildlife across Kenya and Tanzania with my forever friend Kim.

 And all the days I traveled around this country in a small RV with my canine companion Maggie. And the day my book, Travels with Maggie, came off the press.

They were all favorite days. As were all the days I spent birdwatching. Each was a favorite day, even if the birds were scarce.

And I’m thankful for all the friends I’ve made and the good times we’ve had since I settled in Tucson in 2013. I’m thankful for every one of those past days, and for those that I know are still ahead of me, too.  

So today, to echo Pooh, is my favorite day. And it will be my favorite day tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is an avid reader, an enthusiastic birder, the author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), is always searching for life’s silver lining, and these days aging her way – and that’s usually not gracefully.