As I write this, is less than two weeks until my Valentine's Day birthday. I'm not exactly happy about my upcoming birthday – is anyone happy about turning 67 years old? But I am counting down to the day.
As you may remember from my previous journal entries, I have been ill since early December. I'm still not feeling well; however, the symptoms have changed. At the present time I am having difficulty speaking, especially on the telephone: it seems that the words in my head are not always coming out my mouth. Therefore, I am avoiding telephone conversations as much as I can.
The second problem I'm having with myself is that I seem to lose my equilibrium quite often. I have not fallen yet, but I've come awfully close to it.
Since the year 2003 I have been aware of my declining health. In the beginning I worried a lot about this; however, then I read a story of an interview with Joseph Campbell that took place a few years before his death. Campbell was asked how his many years studying world myths and informed his own life.
He replied that he has learned that nothing is permanent – everything is in the process of change. As he has grown older and his body has no longer functioned the way it did when he was a young man, he simply noted the changes in his body – the shutting down of each function – and responded by thanking that function and saying goodbye to it.
This is exactly what I have been doing for the past several years.
As I count down the days until my birthday, I have been reviewing the functions that I no longer have. I said goodbye to easy breathing, the ability to stand without a walking stick, the ability to run, and living each day without pain. I celebrate that I can still think, write, speak (most of the time), sing (a little bit), and walk with the aid of my walking stick. I can also drive.
I can also appreciate the Frank Sinatra song, It Was a Very Good Year.
It Was a Very Good Year
What my kitty kids have been doing:
Sugar and Little Girl having been watching the snow
Alex and Little Girl watching the snow
Sugar on the move; Little Girl on printer.
Alex on my desk, begging treats,
Napping:
Excellent, Rev Saint. I would observe that you have had many good years.
ReplyDeleteRev Nick, this is a good way of looking at aging. It's a good thing to count our blessings!
ReplyDeleteCounting your blessing is always good! And who knows what 67 will bring, you have never been that age!
ReplyDelete