Happiness in Age: Why Older Doesn't Mean Less Happy

Most Americans blindly accept the idea that newer is automatically better. But a human life contradicts this premise. There is a great deal of happiness to be found as we grow older. My own parents, now in their sixties, recently told me that they are happier now than they have ever been. They would not want to be my age. Did this surprise me? At first, yes. Then it gladdened me. Their contentment holds out great promise for me as I move into the next - perhaps even better - phase of my life.

'There is a great deal of happiness to be found as we grow older.' This is a complex sentence with two clauses. The first clause is 'There is a great deal of happiness to be found' and the second clause modifies this by adding 'as we grow older.' The sentence is structured in a way that emphasizes the idea that happiness is something that can be found as we age, rather than something that is automatically lost or diminished over time.