Getting older Keeping young

I found this on a UCB daily notes several years ago and I just had to make a copy of it. As I grow old I find myself occasionally reverting to that Old Man mode where nothing is like the old days. Kinda like the Monty Python sketch ' We used to dream of that' and the end line is tell that to the kids of today and they wont believe it! You know some older people where everything and everyone has turned out bad , well I don't want to end up like that so here is my wish

In Time Out Ladies, Dale Evans shares this prayer:

"Lord, you know better than anybody that

I'm getting older and will someday be old.

Keep me from being talkative; from the fatal habit

of thinking I've got to say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from the need to straighten out everybody's affairs.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;

give me wings to get to the point.

I ask for grace to listen to the tales of others' pains

and to endure them with patience.

But seal my lips when it comes to my own aches and pains,

for they're increasing, and my love of rehearsing them

is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I ask for improved memory, but even more for a growing humility

and a lessening cock-sureness

when my memory seems to clash with the memory of others.

Teach me that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet.

I don't want to be a 'saint' because some of them are

so hard to live with

-and a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Make me thoughtful, but not moody;

helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom,

it seems a pity not to use it; but you know, Lord,

I still want to have a few friends at the end.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places

and talents in unexpected people,

then give me the grace to tell them so.

Amen."