The Sixty Fifth Year - Tomorrow?

Today's post has taken a bit of a turn from what I thought I would write about. A couple of  weeks ago,  we received a delightful postcard, a hand written note from a long time friend. He was a childhood, college friend and fellow soccer player of Don's.

Two things were unique about this postcard.  First, it is rare for a male to reach out using this form of communication to a friend.    Second, the time lapse of communication had been a long one.  Both of these were subconsciously noteworthy, for the postcard has remained sitting out these past weeks.

This friend retired to shift focus in his life to helping others outside of our country.  He was excited about this next chapter.   Everything from an outside perspective looked awesome.  His beautiful family grown and financially he was in a good place.  Yesterday afternoon we received a phone call that this friend, while working out at the gym, dropped dead of a heart attack

We are stunned over the news.  The thought still is foreign to us, he was just a bit younger than me.

He will not have a Sixty Fifth Year! 

As I write this I am finishing up packing for an adventure.  We head to Israel for a 12 day trip.  Exciting and we are planning to leave tomorrow.  Tomorrow.

None of us has a guarantee of tomorrow.  We can plan, they can be great and grand plans.  Our friend had done that, he had grand plans.  There was no warning that our friend was not going be part of a Memorial Day celebration today.  I am quite certain he had lots of tomorrow plans. 

As I take this blog journey using the written word,  I am once again brought into reality that life is so very precious.  Our friend is truly in heaven with The Lord.  I know that.   

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. 
~William Penn

If you knew that you would not have a tomorrow what would change in your life? I head to bed anticipating a tomorrow.  I am sure you the reader are thinking the same thing.  However, there is not a promise of this 'day'.  If you are gifted with tomorrow, make it count!  If you are gifted with tomorrow, are you ready for eternity?

 

Memorial Day during the Sixty Fifth Year

It is Saturday of a long anticipated weekend for most Americans.  Some leave for their vacation homes, or spots to visit. Some use it as a time to get ready for summer, cleaning out their garages, gardening but most people have some expectation of a life being a bit different than the other weeks that have lead up to this time.

I walked over to the cemetery, a short walk from our home, to where our daughter Kara is buried. I decided to share with her some of the beautiful roses from my birthday.  (Actually the deer will love this 'salad dinner tonight'.)   The weather is idyllic!  I decided the walk was needed to keep this body in motion!  My agenda became empty today and I am restless as I withdraw from a crazy week. 

Everything around me was quiet. This cemetery is a beautifully sculpted and void of 'live' people today.  For some it may feel eerie, for me it felt reverent. Flags abounded in the cemetery.  Those who had served our country were honored!  The landscape was somber, beautiful and humbling.  The quiet surroundings evoked many emotions.

When I walk through a cemetery I am always aware of my mortality.  When will I be laid to 'rest'?  Will my life have made made a difference to another?  Is someone better off because our paths crossed?  No one who was buried in this or any other cemetery was insignificant! They were someones son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, grand parent.  Their lives impacted others.  I would like to think the impact was for the better but I know the reality of this 'wish' is not always the case. 

As I leave to return home I am reflective.  I am but one person.  You the reader are but one person.  How will I be remembered?  How will you be remembered?  As my countdown to leaving this earth continues (as does yours) what can I do to make another person's journey a bit easier or a bit kinder? 

I want this Sixty Fifth Year to make someone else's life better, easier and less about me.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am given this commandment.  These are wonderful words to live by.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³ This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   Matthew 22:37-38 - Bible 

It Begins!

Over the past few years I have kept a simple blog going with a focus upon my human endeavors to help change lives particularly in Zambia, Africa.  I won't keep two blogs going this year, I will just include my thoughts and adventures with in the confines of this blog.  It is much simpler and I do not know if either will be read.  (I am obviously talking to my self.  I find I am a very good listener.) 

The actual 65th year has begun!  Yikes!  It has really begun!  That illusive number that no one aspires to BUT, if God blesses you with life here on earth,  we all make there.  Since I have chosen to make a 'bigger deal' about this age, than is my normal approach to life,  this open diary will serve as reminder that we all are called to  something greater than ourselves!  Each of our days has a number assigned to it.  Make them count!

In the next 10 weeks I will be traveling to Israel, Zambia and Honduras.  Crazy for certain.  Each country is unique in every aspect!  It is crazy because my pockets are not deep and God is the provider of these adventures.  It is crazy because there appears to be no logical, connect the dots to these trips, God set the itinerary.   It is crazy because airline seats, in coach, are designed for shorter, thinner people.  It is crazy because 13 hour flights, 50 hour-get-to-the destination, time changes, culture changes and airport food are less than ideal. 

To quote a famous Hobbit, The world is not in your books and your maps, it is out there! Your 'out there' will look different than mine, but get 'out there' and live!

I desire to help you, the reader, (optimistic I am) to step outside of what is comfortable and live!  As a collector of quotes one of my most used, so that must make it a favorite, comes from Corrie Ten Boom, a Holocaust  Survivor.  She was not Jewish but helped to hide and rescue Jewish people.  I will quote her often for she 'got it'.  Life is not about us!

An excuse serves only to help the one giving it. (this is a paraphrase but it makes the point) Corrie Ten Boom. 

I close today asking you to take an inventory of your life.  What excuses do you make to keep you from giving to others,  to taking an adventure, to remain selfish and self focused?  The happiest people I know are those who abandon self and serve others.  Are you ready?

May 21, 2015 

It Begins - The Sixty Fifth Year

May 20, 2015, the calendar page has turned and BAM, I am now 65 years old!!  Wow, that is an age I really didn't  see coming!  Old people are 65! Aren't they?  I have never let a birthday bother me, it is just a day among many that generally treats me with a great cake or pie or dinner out!   So, why post anything about it now?  Why announce this date to my 1000 closest Face Book friends?  I am not looking for birthday greetings. So, why not just ignore it and perhaps it will go away!!

Why? Because it is a marker in our culture in the walk called life!  But, what difference does one day make? 

Well,  I am discovering that checking off this particular 'next' day, on the calender makes a difference! It is crazy but this day is different!!! Because:

*I must now be signed up for Medicare!    Seriously?  

I have a physical tomorrow.  I will now see how easy this transition is or if things change because the government is now part of my health care. 

*I am eligible for Senior Discounts at Movie Theaters and I guess other things too. I just discovered that 15 years ago I could have begun this money saving adventure.  (Those of you behind me, begin to check out the freebies!)

*When I fill out forms and need to check off my age, I have now been bumped up into the next 'age range'. The 'old' age range.

I am certain there are more things to note but for today this is enough for me to process.

So now what?  I do not know!  I have decided that a number, a date on a calendar, is not going to define me.  Oh, I might have to comply with laws and government regulations but life will go on.

God gives to each of us a certain number of days.   Each day is a gift from Him to experience His blessings and plans for me/us.  I do not want to waste one of them!

This blog The Sixty Fifth Year will hopefully inspire my peers to do more.  To those coming behind me I hope that you will  be careful not to judge those older than you. Sooner than you can blink your 'Sixty Fifth Year' will sneak up on you too.   If anyone follows this blog (an open diary) , I hope that you will chime in and share your story or your wisdom, or your hopes and let us journey together.  


 What does this age afford me?  I am going discover the answer to this question.  Perhaps soon, I will have more to say on this #65, but for today it will be Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Just another day among many. Oh yes,  I will get to eat some awesome desert :)


No one can confidently say that they will be here tomorrow. Euripides 

(God) Teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom.  Psalm 91:12 (Bible)