It is now 12;15 a.m., and sleep won’t come. This must be a sign of growing old. Well, like Peter Pan, I refuse to do so. My dad was always young at heart, and I guess the apple does not fall far from the tree.

I remember many years ago watching my three year old niece demonstrate what she learned in ballet class. Standing next to her, to my surprise, was Bonnie’s grandfather, my dad, imitating her ballet steps. WOW!!

As a child, then later a teenager, I always thought a senior was a person who sat in a rocking chair letting the years pass by in this way. How wrong I was. Being a senior does not have to be like this. Now my husband and I are in our golden years. Yes, we have aches and pains, but we do not let that fact rule our lives. We are enjoying our retirement together by attending operas, ballets, taking trips with each other, but most important of all, attending our grandchildren’s activities.

We love to “KVELL” (The English translation – to be so proud that our hearts burst with pleasure) when our eight-year-old grandson, Jake, scores a goal in hockey, or our eight-year-old granddaughter, Alli (Jake’s twin sister) and 6year old grandson Corey show us their Karate moves. We are also very excited when our five-year-old grandson Matthew's races across the ice yelling “Hey grandma & Papa, LOOK AT ME." I still have enough energy to run after my two-year-old granddaughter, Bailey Leah as she climbs up and down the stairs at the Cote St. Luc arena.

I still go to my “AMAZING” hair stylist, Lison, who magically turns my grey hair into gold. It does not make me any younger; it just makes me feel younger. I do not fear getting older. I just put that thought out of my mind and go on with the life I have chosen to live.

We raised our two children to be self-sufficient and now that they have their own lives and families to raise we have the leisure time to pursue our own activities, such as scrabble, bridge, sudoko, seniors' club meetings, visiting our grandchildren and travel to interesting places.

We like not having to wake up at dawn and fight the traffic to get to work every day, rain or shine. Living in Laval, we are lucky to have the Metro. Being we are retired, we can avail ourselves of the service at “off” hours when we are not squeezed into the subway cars like sardines. We can go shopping, go to the museums and concerts downtown and leave our car in the metro parking lot. Traveling the streets of Montreal by car is like driving on an obstacle course, with construction cones every way we turn. For us, public transport is a dream.

Yes, we are seniors, but we are mobile and intend to take advantage of this fact to the fullest, and as long as it lasts. Retirement today is not like it was in my grandparents' time. My zeida (grandfather) worked until he was 65 and spent the next fifteen years of his retirement making my bubby (grandmother) nervous. Sadly, my grandfather did not have hobbies to make his retirement a pleasure. Instead, he sat everyday watching the traffic go by on the balcony of his Brooklyn, New York apartment. Now, there are so many programmes and activities available so that retirement is not a life-sentence but something to look forward to experiencing. My mother said that the golden years were not so golden, but I disagree. Being a senior could be wonderful if you choose to look at it in a positive way. If you choose to have a negative attitude, thinking only about aches and pains, then your future will be a hardship. Only you can steer your course. “BON VOYAGE”.