The Stages of One's Life

Early stage:
This is the nurturing stage. YOU are the one being nurtured, if you have forgotten. Do this, do that. Don’t do that. Learn this. Study that. Don’t stay out too late. Learn the good things. Be a sponge and absorb everything. You prepare yourself, inspite of your parents and teachers, for the next stages of your life and how to make a living.
Mid-stage
You get a job, marry, and start a family. Nobody actually told you to do the latter. That folly meant you spend the rest of your life paying off a mortgage, working your heart out to raise the family, and trying to save for the later stage of your life. Every now and then, you try to enjoy your life i.e. have some holidays, buy a new car, spend the bank’s money, do something naughty. This is the stage of building. Not quite sure what. My stage just breezed by and I am unable to recall what happened. Yes, I do remember the stress and struggles. Fortunately, a good spouse and wonderful children are great compensation.
Later stage
You are an empty nester. There are more rooms than people in the house. Now you have a bit of change left over after paying your medical bills. This is the time to put up your legs, make peace, and age graciously. Or you can go tearing around full of vitality. It is nobody’s affair, but yours.
This is the age of giving – wisdom, effort, time or money. As the song goes, you are the world. If you have enough for yourself, it is the time to help others.

For once, you have time you have for yourself, after babysitting and granny duties. Now is the time you get to do the things you want to do. If you are still married, I hope you already have an understanding with your other half that you are free to do what you choose. I have nothing against marriages. They serve some purposes. Yours.
If you are widowed, don’t even bother to jump back into another tie-up. As they say, marriage is a three-ring circus – engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. You won’t be so lucky this time. Nobody wins a lottery twice. You do not need another person to make you happy. If you need domestic help, it is cheaper to employ a maid.
Love? Don’t even think about it. Just let it remain on Lionel Ritchie’s CD. Give your love to everybody else (that should be the title of a new single by the previously battered Tina Turner). It will be a waste to give your love to only one person. Love the whole world, all 3 billion of them.
Why risk getting into a mess when you are now free to walk where your nose leads you, eat what and when you want, travel where you want to go, give your money to whoever you like, come home whenever you wish, wear pajama the whole day, have the TV to yourself, do anything without a second opinion?

This could very well be the best time of your life. Make use of it. Aging is a one way street, no turning back.

There is no other stage after this.

P.s. don’t take what you read too seriously.