It's About Time

I love time travel movies.  Back to the Future is of course a favorite! It's odd to think that I am now living in 2017 which is two years after the future imagined in the late 80's film. Another fun fact: The street I live on was used in the original movie for the shot of the Delorean taking off into the mysteries of the future.  More recently, Insterstellar overwhelmed me with its amazing ideas of  time and space and love.  A lovely little romantic movie starring Rachel McAdams called About Time really touched me with its theme of being able to go back in time to manipulate events in the recent past.

Who doesn't think about the possibility of a do-over? Or what would have happened if? The further I advance in life, the more I can see how my decisions and choices affected my current situation.  But lingering on the wisha-shoulda-coulda's of my life is really a pointless exercise in futility.  Oh, if only I hadn't eaten all those McFlurries and spent all my money on cat toys. Perhaps you wonder what would have happened if you had or hadn't married that person, or if you had only given or not given him/her your phone number. If you had taken the job in Hong Kong or hadn't taken the job in South Dakota. If only you had majored in Medicine instead of Home Ec.

My oldest daughter died about a year and a half ago. About 40 years too soon. When I first wrestled with the grief of losing her, my brain wanted to travel down the wisha-shoulda-coulda lane.  Oh, I wanted to go there. I wanted to swim among all the if-onlies. But while I was weeping and praying one day, a Still, Small, Voice told me to not to go there. But, God, I argued why shouldn't I go there? And He quietly asked me what good would it do. Would it change what is? And sadly, I knew it wouldn't.  Nothing I could have done or should have done could bring her back.  Time only moves forward in the real world.

And so forward we have have to keep going. We aren't going to get a do-over. No matter how much we want one. But we can get a Do-Something-New.

Life is about time. I have gone from I don't have time to I hope I have enough time. I have mentioned before I was a 100 mile an hour person. Mercifully time has slowed down, even as my hurtling toward eternity has sped up. Now, I get to take more time doing those things, I used to think I didn't have time for.

So what to do about this time problem? Do it now. If there is something you always wanted to do, some place you long to go, do it now. Make a plan. Strategize. Take baby steps. It's not over till it's over.  You are not too old to pursue a new dream or even the same dream.  Famous folk artist Grandma Moses painted her first painting when she was 76. Col. Sanders started his chicken franchise when he was 65. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her first novel when she was 65. Fauja Singh who is 101 holds the world record for being the oldest marathon runner. I'm just sayin'.

And it's never too late to be kind, to be loving. It's not too late spend time with your children, grand children, your spouse, your parents.  It's not too late to tell someone how much you love them, appreciate them. How much they have helped you, encouraged you, meant to you. It's not too late. There is still time. Even if you suffer from an illness, or debilitating injury you can pray, console, encourage, amuse, teach and inspire.

There is a very elderly lady that I see at the Y all the time. I'll call her Sarah and I understand that she is in her late 90's. She has an electric wheelchair and takes the para-transport to and from her water exercise class.  I am amazed and inspired by Sarah and people like her.  Her age and her disability have not stopped her from living her life and living it to the best of her ability. Wow. I force my entire household to wait on me hand and foot and complain that my motorized reclining couch is not quite comfortable enough.  Sarah, just by being who she is, gets me off the couch.  If Sarah at her age  can live with her major physical problems, so can I keep going with my much more insignificant issues.

So maybe it is time to strap on those Nike's and Just Do It.

Do it. Don't you think its about time?

We All have to Start Somewhere

My daughter’s friend gave her a baby redwood tree. It is about two feet tall and sitting in a large pot out in the shade of our front porch. Redwoods and Sequoia’s grow to be about 300 feet tall and the largest one is about 100 feet in circumference.  Yikes... But today this little tree is content to live in a large pot.  He is just beginning his life.  The largest Sequoia is said to weigh more than a million tons and is 2100 years old. That dates back to the time of Jesus. These plants are the oldest and biggest known living organisms on the planet.  A pretty impressive heritage for our little treelet. He has a long way to go. 

We all have to start somewhere. I started having back trouble a couple of years ago and it makes it hard for me to walk any real distance. The pain actually limits me in many ways. My mother who lived a long and healthy life used to tell me to try water aerobics.  I felt like that was an exercise for old people. And then one day while looking in the mirror I had to finally admit...oh, yeah... I am one of those “old” people. So I dragged myself to the YMCA the other day for my first water class... a lovely group of happy, healthy, and admittedly older people were there cheerfully enjoying the water and the exercise. A beautiful white haired woman who looked to be 90 gave me a dazzling smile and welcomed me. The class began... by 15 minutes in I was afraid I wouldn’t make it. 90 year olds were going to out do me. I hung in and I found myself enjoying the weightlessness of the water. I was walking again with no pain. It was exhilarating. 

I think we can learn that from a  redwood tree and from water aerobics. Our lives are so filled with instant gratification. From remote controls for our TV’S, to cell phones that give us games, news, friends with the touch of a button, we come to expect everything to happen immediately with little effort. Redwoods probably chuckle (to themselves) about our frenetic paced lives. They will be around long after we have burnt through our life spans and they still will be watching the sun rise and set, and the seasons change. They are not worried about elections, or violence or breaking news.  They just grow. They provide shade, shelter and food for other species. And they keep on growing as the animals come and go, as the storms rage and subside. They grow through snow, and heat. Their root system connects to their fellow trees. Together they hold themselves up through wind and rain. 

But they started small and kept at it. And they help each other and all those that  sit in their shade. 

In Matthew 6:28 Jesus says: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;  and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

So today as I take another small step toward a healthier life,  I think I will consider the redwoods and have faith that God will give me the strength to keep at it. To grow and keep growing. 

We Are All Aging to Perfection

Aging happens. If we are lucky. Some might consider it unlucky. I guess it depends on who you are asking.  I just recently started to accept that I am aging. This might come as a surprise to everyone who has known me for the past 67 years.  But yes. Age has happened. Or rather, it is happening. I was a hundred mile an hour person about 4 years ago. Then a back ailment and life interceded. And now I'm a 40 mile an hour person. Somedays a 20 mile an hour person.

As I have started learning how to navigate stuff like how to use a cane and other indignities of growing older,  I discovered that other people have aged too. Like the Rolling Stones. Hard to believe Mick Jagger is still alive.  I recently saw what was left of the Beach Boys (my favorite band when I was in 8th grade), and was shocked at all the old guys on the stage. Wow. We were never going to grow old.  Remember?  Woodstock! I had lots of friends who were there. The summer of love! Long hair. Looooong hair. And wild times. And somehow it all sort of morphed into ...well... life. Kids, jobs, houses, divorces, other jobs, other houses and then suddenly I am a grandmother. And then next I am retiring. Wow. That went fast. My mother told me that it goes fast. It does. But I always believed it went fast for them. Not me. A blink.  I will be going to my 45th reunion next year. A blink. My granddaughter is 11. Another blink and my daughter is 42. I used to think 42 was old.

So how to cope in this fast moving, techo/internet/facebook/instagram/iphone world?  I have no idea.

So my plan is to have fun. One of the great things about getting older is that we really do have nothing much to lose. Who cares what we look like or what we say? Advertisers think we don't exist. Actually, no one under the age of 30 apparently buys anything anymore. Which I believe ISN'T true.

We buy stuff. We have disposable income. Some of us have LOTS of disposable income. (Not me.) But we buy things for our kids, and grandkids, too. We watch TV. We love to travel, cook, go out to eat. I love clothes, antiques, jewelry.  So I want to look at all that. What do we want to do now that we aren't 20 anymore?

For my husband it's GAME OF THRONES.
For me, its gardening and reading. And faith. Faith is what keeps me going!
What keeps you going?
Aging is going to continue happening. So let's get on with it!