Happiness Grows With Age: A Personal Story

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.

Analyzing the Complex Sentence

'There is a great deal of happiness to be found as we grow older, which contradicts the premise that newer is automatically better, and my own parents, now in their sixties, recently told me that they are happier now than they have ever been, and they would not want to be my age, but at first this surprised me, and then it gladdened me, and their contentment holds out great promise for me as I move into the next - perhaps even better - phase of my life.'

This sentence is complex and contains multiple clauses and phrases. The main clause is 'There is a great deal of happiness to be found as we grow older.' The first subordinate clause is 'which contradicts the premise that newer is automatically better.' The second subordinate clause is 'my own parents, now in their sixties, recently told me that they are happier now than they have ever been.' The third subordinate clause is 'they would not want to be my age.' The sentence also contains several phrases, such as 'at first, yes' and 'perhaps even better.'