growing old

i suddenly thought of what type of old person i want to be

i want to be someone who is trusted and cherished by their community 

i want to be surrounded by people who genuinely enjoy my presence and are not just tolerating it

i want to be able to announce that i made way too much pasta and to have hungry friends flocking to my door

i want to have money not just to support myself but to take care of the people around me 

i want to enjoy life, and what have i of it, with art and shows and literature. 

not even the fancy kind, like catch me at 70 watching smiling friends on YouTube, or what will come of it. 

I want to be the type of old person which is really, just a person who is old. 

Some people grow bitter and pessimistic over the years as they grow up, and I am sad for it. 

I wish that more people could see beyond life as a test to be completed, and of one to live.