“Everything is different now,” a friend said last week. At 80, she questioned why she’d had a $400 increase in her car insurance. She wondered if it was worth it yet to invest in granite counter-tops for her kitchen. And she reminded me to be thankful for my husband, that her evenings are still the loneliest time of day since her husband died six years ago.
I agreed. Everything is different as I age. I look at life through different glasses.
I see good things: my children raising their children, relieved that my child rearing days are over; days when I can sleep in, rather than having to get up at 5:30 to meet nursing students at the hospital; Sunday afternoons as free to read the paper instead of preparing for lectures on Monday; lots of free time to write, take classes, attend concerts and plays, travel with my husband, spend time with friends, and on and on.
I also see things that are not fun—pain, illness, death, and losses of all kinds.
Last week was one of both extremes. On Tuesday, my husband and I celebrated our 53rd wedding anniversary; on Sunday, a brother-in-law passed away.
Fifty-three years ago, he and my nurse sister, with their three children, were at the punch bowl at my wedding. My sister died three years ago next month. Now the little kids on this picture are planning their dad’s funeral. My heart goes out to them.
Yes, everything is different now. But today I’m taking a moment to be thankful for life, and, as our minister says on Sundays when someone dies, I’m thankful for life eternal.
Life eternal: the most blessed kind of different. We, all of us, old and young, can contentedly carry on with this peace in our hearts.
Write Along with Me 
Aging is indeed a mixed blessing. But on balance, I’ll have to say that I’m loving my “senior” years.
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Me too, Gary! You can relate to my relief from teaching responsibilities.Thanks.
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Our sympathy and prayers as you mourn the death of your brother in law.
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Thanks, Mina. Mercifully, his terminal CA illness lasted less than a month.
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So sorry for your loss, Lois.
Losses will come more frequently as we age but you have the right idea to look at the many positive things that come with aging.
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For sure. Thanks.
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Words of wisdom, indeed, Lois. We so often don’t appreciate our blessings as we should. Every day is truly a gift.
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Thanks. It’s a difficult time.
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Lois, such insights, as we age, to have such insights. This reminds me of a time, years ago that my sister made a meal at a family reunion. She said, “If we eat like this all the time, we can all live to be 100”
My Mom, who was losing her friends and experiencing other losses, the kind seen in ‘independent’ living, wryly said, “YOU CAN!” Annie
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Yes, the wisdom that comes with aging. Love your mom’s humor!
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Lois, I was thinking of you yesterday, because of the name of your blog. Rather than put it all here, I’ll e-mail you. Can you follow my blog again, I had to purge all the names because of tons of spam!
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