"We must be willing
to get rid of the life we’ve planned,
so as to have
the life
that is waiting for us.
The old skin has to be
shed before the new one can come."
Joseph Campbell
Today
I begin living the seventh decade of my life.
Today I leave my 50’s behind and begin life in my 60’s. Today, I am 60 years old. Oh. My. Goodness.
I
have lived long enough for seven men to occupy the White House. 1952, the year of my birth, was an election
year and Harry Truman turned over the presidential reigns to Dwight Eisenhower. 2012 is also an election year, one which I
hope records the reelection of Barrack Obama, our first black president (Before
I leave this world, I dream of seeing a woman called Madam President). In my lifetime, I have witnessed war, from
the Cold War to the current protracted War on Terror. I have viewed rockets leaving our planet taking
astronauts and rovers from Cape Canaveral/Kennedy to the sky, the moon, and now
to Mars. I have watched the economy rise, fall, and even tank multiple times. I have observed maps altered and renamed by
politics and struggle. I have seen the Berlin Wall fall and our fear of Communism
fade, and I have seen houses and waistlines expand as we Americans increased our
appetites for more, always more. I have
chatted by telephone on a party line, a wall phone, and a cell phone. I have been swept along in the tidal wave of
the information age and the omnipresence of computers, owning several
permutations of personal computers from the first Mac to an iPad. I have seen backyard gardens morph into
living locally. I have watched styles
shift and change and have lived long enough to witness the 50’s become cool again
with Mad Men and much of my former
wardrobe become classified as “vintage.”
I
have given birth and raised three amazing children. I have buried both of my parents. I have welcomed three beautiful
grandchildren… I have spent a chunk of my
life (and soul) in the classroom teaching. I have
cheered in celebration and cried in sorrow.
I have confronted health challenges for me as well as for those I
love.
Life
never really stands still, even when we wish it would. And as I stand on the threshold of a new decade,
there are few things I hope remain behind as I move ahead.
What
I wish to shed:
Weighing and measuring myself by a number on scale
or by some artificial yardsticks of success
A critical eye and a sharp tongue
A rootless spirit
Our stockpile of stuff
Urgency, fear, worry, and anxiety
Too tight a tether to the virtual world—being too
plugged to an illusory world that I check out of the real one
What
I hope to hold:
Abiding in the present
Breathing slowly and deeply
Movement of body and mind
Careful living--responsible stewardship of the
earth
Laughter
Kindness
Usefulness
Books
Learning
Listening more
Talking less
Finding poetry in the everyday --so much really does depend “upon a red wheelbarrow”
Love for family and friends
A closer walk and deeper friendship with God so I
may come closer this admonition::
He has showed you, O man
is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6: 8
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