What’s Old What’s Not
Today has turned into one of those unexplained remembering days. You know the ones. I remember when I thought that fifty was old, very old. A friend wrote that she was having the 50th birthday bash for her daughter. I thought my oldest will be 50 this October. My youngest will be 40 in November. Today, for me, I know full well that seventy is young; it is only my children who are getting old. But several people I know have died. Several more are knocking on the door. What’s up with that? I do not have to read the obits for reality to register. All have to do is read my high school e-mails. The funerals out number the reunions and parties. The last reunion we had to make room for walkers and wheelchairs. Chili dogs were not on the menu.
There is an urban myth that if we humans get past the three quarter mark we will not start dropping off until the nineties attach to us. That could turn out to be a good thing, that is if our children happen to still be alive and also love us. Out living one’s children would be the worst of all. Having them still alive but hating our name and presence would run a close second. The third worst would be if they never ever left home and still lived with us and also wanted us to go ahead and die so they could get the house. My own aging mother would awake in the morning and her first words: “I’m still here, damn.” At eighty-one Mama took matters into her own hands, but that is another story.
We have a saint in our family. My children’s uncle has kept the Grand Matriarc of the family in his home and created a space for her as close to the one she had during the time she and Jeff were still married. Jeff died and Ken became shepherd. Bertha will be 96 in October. Her memory, both short and long term, and her interest in the present happenings is amazing. My children have seen to it that their children have each been held by Great-Grandma. Now she has become a Great Great Grandma. The memories and the chance to hold one more new baby keep her alive generation to generation.
I have more to say on this, I know I do. But right now this grandma needs needs to take a little nap.
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