This is 59.
 |
| Birthday photo 2025 - National Arboretum in the rain |
It is a strange age.
It’s older than my sister
Annette ever got to experience.
It is on the verge of “old”. Or wait, is it old? Is it just that what “old” is keeps getting
pushed back further and further, so actually we hit it a long time ago?
I don’t feel “old”.
But, as always for a
decade or so, I feel “resolute”. I feel “accepting”. I feel realistic.
I know my time on earth is
limited, and I know I have used up over half of it.
Some of it I wasted –
watching movies but not really paying attention, sleeping, dusting (though to
be honest I have not wasted much time on that one, one look at our house will
tell you that).
Some of it I relished -
skiing down mountains, splashing in waterfalls and ocean waves, looking out at cornfields,
clouds, and forests from high in the sky.
Some of it I suffered –
watching loved ones die, witnessing friendships fading away, seeing my to do
list grow and grow but not getting any of it done.
But most it – I lived.
Just lived.
Woke up. Took a shower. Did some work. Made a meal.
Took a walk. Wrote a story. Talked to a stranger.
I lived.
And I’m cool with that.
59 so far.
Less than that to go.
Odd to think of it that
way, but that’s where I sit on the continuum.
And I’m cool with that,
too.
As long as I have a garden
tomato and salt, a warm blanket to snuggle under, and my love by my side – I
am content.
Content to just live.
Comments