Aging

Charlie Brown Gives Up To The Inevitable 

Yesterday my biological gonged 60 times to signify that it has marked the passing of another year. Birthdays are a happy time for me. It is also a time for me to reflect as to where I have been, where I am now and where I am going.  I was very lucky, I had parents that loved me and cared about me and my future. When I was young I did not appreciate this fact as much as I do now as I cross the imaginary line from the fifties to the sixties.  With the medical problems I have managed to afflict myself with I am an unlikely candidate to see seventy and I accept that fact without sadness. In my time I have been able to live some of my dreams and not too many people can say that today.

I've tended to learn the hard way every time as the late grate Jim Croce sings;

Yeah, I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasing' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the places I've been
The changes that I've left behind
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way every time

'Cause I've had my share of good intentions
And I've made my share of mistakes
And I've learned at times it's best to bend
'Cause if you don't well those are the breaks
Should have listened to all the things I was told
But I was young and too proud at the time
Now I look at myself to find
I learn the hard way ev'ry time

But in looking back at the lessons I've learned
And the mountains I wanted to climb
I just look at myself to find
I've learned the hard way ev'ry time

'Cause I've had my share of broken dreams
And more than a couple of falls
And in chasin' what I thought were moonbeams
I have run into a couple of walls
But in looking back at the faces I've been
I would sure be the first one to say
When I look at myself today
Wouldn't a done it any other way

There is no non-religious song that I have ever heard that touches me more than this song. I find that most of the time I have picked the hard way to learn the lessons of life but if I had to do it all over again, I don't think that I would do it any other way.  All of the experiences in my life from the nun that busied herself writing letters to advise my parents that I never delivered, to the time a drunken boss call and fired me over the phone and other good and bad things, make me who I am.  Change any one of those things and I would not be the same person I am today.  But most importantly I would not have had the chance to live with and love my wife Mary.  I could not conceive what life would have been without her, lonely bachelorhood would have been my lot. 

So, I thank the Lord for EVERYTHING and EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE I have faced in my life.  I thank him for all of the things He has given to me, and I praise Him for the things that he has chosen to withhold from me.  I have always felt His presence in my life, even when I was far away from Him.  

In the spirit of Francis Assisi; 

                           Praise you Lord for Brother Aging for with it comes wisdom and 

                           Thoughts of you and your love for me,