Golden Years

In by-gone days of yore the term 'golden' was used to refer to good times. Thus in the 1950's when more people were living well beyond their fifties advertising agencies jumped on the opportunity and began referring to the years of retirement as golden years. Using the term as a way of appealing to retiree's desire to live out the remainder of their lives in the comfort of warmer climates and easily maintainable homes. It was a good strategy and one that has continued to this day.

But for me the term has never brought to mind the later years of life. No, when I think of the golden years, my first thought is of Robert Frosts poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. I was was about ten when I read the book 'The Outsiders' and was introduced to Frost's poem.

Frost had it right! It is the years of youth that are golden, when a child is pure and sees the world through innocent eyes. Such a difficult attribute to maintain. With that thought in mind I created the image below to use as my cover on Google+ and then added the wording to use as my cover photo for Facebook. We may not be able to 'stay gold' but we can work to never lose some of the aspects behind a golden innocence.

 Now for a bit of poetic advice to all parents.

Golden Years

Like the flicker of a candle

burning brightly one moment

only to quickly fade the next

Embrace the joy

Feel the wonder

Cherish the moment

All to soon these golden years will pass

Never be too busy to enjoy them

while they last.

Be it with your cell phone, a point and shoot or a fancy SLR or DSLR snap that shot! You will be glad you did when your child is a child no more.