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Wonderful post. Worth reading and re reading. When we were 50, an older relative said that she was "slowing down" and I didn't have a clue what she meant. Now I know exactly what she meant. When we were in our mid thirties we enjoyed the company of all our 50 year old and 60/70 year old neighbors but prided ourselves on our youth.....and expected them to "keep up with us" on hikes up hill, etc. not realizing that some might not be able to , or lacked the stamina.....to go on these uphill hikes........ We never took naps and couldn't understand why our elders needed that "nap" each day...... Eventually, we all will understand what aging is like.........it happens to the best of us. It just kind of sneaks up on one.......... |
Even the newborn baby gets older exactly as we do: one day at a time.
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It is a matter of perspective I guess. To continue the math theme as a % of your life that day is but a blip as a child it was huge. |
The reason childhood days and months seem so endless is because everything a young child sees or experiences is new and interesting. At our age we've seen everything, done everything, so the minutes, days, years slip rapidlyby unnoticed and unappreciated.
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That indeed is a beautiful song with heart wrenching words and tear jerker melody (as my old mom would say)............but I'll bet most of us have very few regrets at how we've lived our lives.........perhaps only that it's passed too quickly..........and that perhaps we didn't appreciate our super healthy and super physicality of our youth............ I have very happy memories of marrying young, raising a family while young and basically devoting our lives to raising two upstanding citizens , now with young families of their own........and the fact that they choose to repeat many of the family traditions that we instilled in them, is great reward. I guess we were never party animals.....but more family oriented with family celebrated holidays and events. Miss that....but times change. |
As We Age........
As we age, the holidays remain the same; it's the faces around the table that change......... |
Thank you everyone for the beautiful thoughts and posts. I'll share one I've shared many times before but it never gets old: 1000 Marbles
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the backyard patio with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up to listen to a Saturday morning talk show I heard an older sounding gentleman, with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles". I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say... "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years." "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part." "It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy." "So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away." "I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight." "Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time." "It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again. You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work that morning. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a while since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles." |
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