Today I Give Thanks for the Blessings and the Curse of Living into Old Age

 

 

Today I Give Thanks for the Blessings and the Curse of Living into Old Age. 

 

As Betty Davis famously said, “Old age ain’t no place for sissies!”  You can say that again, girlfriend!  I could go on and on about the physical shifts we need to adapt to as we age – all those changes that the media focuses on day in and day out.  “Eat these five foods and add a five years to your life!”  “Use this face cream and look ten years younger!”  Maybe or maybe not.  Yet the changes our bodies undergo are nothing compared to our social and, ultimately, psychological shifts.

 

Twenty- and thirty-somethings might resonate with the (now old) 1994 movie title “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”  A few years ago, I started telling friends that it had become “Four Funerals and a Wedding.”  Today I wonder where the weddings have gone, because my life seems to consist of one funeral after another after another.  Each one representing the loss of a dear friend or relative. 

 

At age 91 my grandfather refused surgery saying, “My wife and all my friends are gone.”  Grief can overwhelm us.  Losing the people who created meaning for our lives.  This is the curse of living a long life.

 

There is, however, also a tremendous blessing to this old age business.  When we stay involved in the world, with younger relatives and/or with activities and causes, then we get to find more wonderful people who create more meaning in our lives.  A great-grandson, as in the picture here of my late father-in-law.  A physical therapist who helps us move more easily.  A new priest or minister.  New colleagues who join the same causes that we care about.  Even – as I’ve seen with some folks – a new girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse.  The blessings of living into old age are all the people we keep meeting along the way!

 

Today I give thanks for all the wonderful friends and relatives who, although now passed from this world, helped create my life.  I also give thanks to those people I’m just now getting to know – and those I hope to meet in the future, too!