Thoughts an getting old, and enjoying it |
A Mirth day wish! This is a Mirth-day wish, for all of us who made it this far. That name came about from the way a good friend of mine says, Birth-day. I thank him for making me realize that mirth-day is a time for celebrating, this very moment as it passes. We made it this far and we need to feel the same glee as children running down the beach with waves tugging at their toes as the tide comes in. We must never ever forget to smile when we have the opportunity. Moments of joy build on each other. Seriously, I want to talk about our future. What I am talking about is not in some nebulous distant place in time, like the tomorrow that never comes. Are we supposed to sit patiently and wait for the future? That sounds too much like of letting life happen to us, instead of letting us live life. Living my life is an exercise for my senses. There is so much life trying to shake me awake before it is too late. This morning I inhaled the day; various flowers in the strip of green behind my house were blooming wild, lending the sweet scent of summer, to the soft morning breeze. It is such a gift for an old man to enjoy. The caress of the warm fingers of the sun, and the puffy white clouds that make shapes for all to see. Who has the time to see the duck waddle slowly northward then slowly morph into a dog? Who has time to listen to six kinds of birds shaking off the night, and greeting the morning in their own dialect of bird speak? It is hard to tune them in on my hearing aids, so at times I am forced to rely on my memory and just remember. Life is now, my memories do fill in for the weakness of growing old. I hope that you have seen and heard the things of which I speak. I hope your memories are vivid, full of life, and the song of all the birds in the chorus eases your mind and helps you through the next moment in the chain of life. There is a point when the simple realization dawns, that there is no future, only the moments linked in time that form our lives. Without that infinitesimal time link between T1 (future so close that you live it) and T0 (the origin, is so near in the past that nothing could exist without it. It is this movement through time that makes it possible for everything to be. I believe it all started when a force so far beyond my comprehension uttered the simple word that let it begin; BE! Thanks, for the gift of life. Let’s savor every moment. I am not the least bit annoyed to say, ”I am old.” That is far superior to saying, “I give UP!” Listen to the rustling conversation the leaves are having in the trees overhead as they discuss in detail just what is really important, right now. It is not some strange language; it is the sound of life. Drink it in like the nectar of God that it is. A squirrel who feels that we have come too near to his nest, chatters his warning. The path through the next one hundred paces is under a canopy of green. It would is not unusual to see a fawn anxiously looking for its mother. Or feel a drop of dew fall from high above slip under my shirt and run down my neck. The thunder of the waves slowly eating the cliffs ahead a few grains of sand at a time, is a vibration that travels through ones feet before it penetrates the shield that I put up purposely to shut out the distraction. The tide is close to high. A breaker hits the point, and a geyser of white water spurts over one hundred feet toward the deep blue sky. What a poignant ocean “explicative!” It that puts this old human into his proper place. Can I afford not to feel the power and magnitude of forever? Can I neglect the opportunity to stand in awe at the spectacle in the heavens? Infinitely far away, yet it is so close I can touch it with my mind, and in return it touches my soul? The astronomical sized wheel of the Milky Way spiraling across the expanse of darkness that is deep space with a billion, billion stars is putting on the most spectacular light show any one could ever imagine. Do I remember? How could I forget? With every nerve and every cell, LIVE, drink life in because now is all there really is. Enjoy, when you read, let all your accumulated memories put color back into your life, with the sweet scent of roses, and the lingering taste of Tupelo Honey on your lips. How can anyone refuse to smile? |