They say that the time when most people change their views on life is during the transition from childhood to adulthood.

I disagree. When we move into our senior years, our thousands of memorable experiences, countless numbers of mistakes and successful failures, if that makes sense, guides us to a wisdom to know what remains important in our lives and what does not.

A 95-year-old man attended an authors’ event held at the Dimmick Library last Saturday that two other writers and I organized. The man told us that he was on the other side of the mountain of life, but his tone of voice was one of acceptance rather than disappointment.

I thought about what it must be like to live nine and a half decades, to experience the deaths of parents, siblings, best friends, wife and possibly a child. That can make you bitter or it can make you wiser.

The great actor Anthony Hopkins shared his thoughts about living 86 years and business coach and mentor Caitriona Loughrey has written her perspective about how she feels about living long in years. Their words inspired me to write this column and I have included a few of my own ideas about how we might grow older and bolder.

Hopkins writes, “I know that I have less to live than I have lived. I feel like a child who was given a box of chocolates. He enjoys eating it and when he sees that there is not much left, he starts to eat them with a special taste.”

He says that as we age into our twilight years, we feel a sense of urgency to enjoy the “taste” of every moment we have left. Time, which used to stop dead when we were kids while we waited for holidays and summer days off from school, moves the clock dials at high speed for the senior citizen.

Loughrey writes, “Barely the day started and ... it’s already six in the evening. Barely arrived on Monday and it’s already Friday ... and the month is already over ... and then the year is almost over ... and already 40, 50 or 60 years of our lives have passed.

Time is not on our side. Hopkins says, “I have no time for endless lectures on public laws - nothing will change. And there is no desire to argue with fools who do not act according to their age. And there’s no time to battle the gray. I don’t attend meetings where egos are inflated and I can’t stand manipulators.”

Loughrey offers somewhat of a different mindset. “We realize it’s too late to go back. So let’s try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time. Let’s keep looking for activities that we like. Let’s put some color in our gray. Let’s smile at the little things in life that put balm in our hearts.”

Hopkins says that aging separates our likes and dislikes by larger margins. “I am disturbed by envious people who try to vilify the most capable to grab their positions, talents and achievements. I have too little time to discuss headlines - my soul is in a hurry. Too few candies left in the box. I’m interested in human people. People who laugh at their mistakes are those who are successful, who understand their calling and don’t hide from responsibility. Who defend human dignity and want to be on the side of truth, justice, righteousness. This is what living is for. I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of others,” he says. “Who, through the blows of fate, were able to rise and maintain the softness of the soul.”

Loughrey says that as we age and the years move us closer to the ends of our lives, we should never put off until tomorrow what we want to do today.

“And despite everything, we must continue to enjoy with serenity this time we have left. Let’s try to eliminate the ‘laters.’ I’m doing it later ... I’ll say it later ... I’ll think about it later ... We leave everything for later like 'later is ours. Because what we don’t understand is that later, the coffee gets cold ... later, priorities change ... later, the charm is broken ... later, health passes ... later, the kids grow up ... Later, parents get old ... Later, promises are forgotten ... Later, the day becomes the night ... later, life ends ... And then it’s too late. ... So ... let’s leave nothing for later ... Because while waiting for later, we can lose the best moments, the best experiences, best friends, the best family. ... The day is today ... The moment is now ...

“We are no longer at the age where we can afford to postpone what needs to be done right away.”

I’ll throw in my two cents about aging. I never liked the word grownup. We can be mature and responsible, but we should never lose that child we were from so many years ago.

Perhaps the Rolling Stones guitar player, 80-year-old Keith Richards says it best. “The goal in life when you get older is to get older,” he said, “but everybody thinks when you reach a certain age, you’re a grownup, but it’s not true. Nobody grows up until the day they croak.”

There is one more piece of chocolate in the box. Hopkins is right. The last piece tastes sweeter than the first. The last of everything is better than the beginning.

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com