Something caught my eye and I looked up to see a brilliant sunset going on just outside the window. It caught me by surprise, it seemed too early in the day for the sunset, I thought, and yet there it was. And as quickly as I noticed and hurried to take a picture, it was gone. Used up, faded, and forgotten, aside from photos.
Much as I found myself feeling during my recent visit with my daughter and grandchildren. Oh it was an enjoyable time, there were no problems. Almost anyhow. All was fun and games the whole visit, until I happened to glance into a mirror and found my mother looking back at me. I never think of my age, I pretty much feel as good as ever so it hasn’t demanded attention. But there it was. Undeniable. I’m old. I’m as my mother was during the last years she visited with us. I remember how distant it felt to me to notice the signs of aging etching themselves into my mother’s face. I saw that it was happening to her, but somehow I never considered that I would also age in the same way. There is a lot of life written on my face, now that I look at it. I earned the wrinkles and the gray hair. So while I notice the changes in myself, I will try to remember that each sunset seems to reach it’s most glorious just as it slips below the horizon. It’s a good thought, it’s a reason to keep going. So yes I’m old, but my light is still burning, and I don’t think it’s even close to burning itself out, not yet…
I double-checked and we have a photo walk to the library every other Tuesday night, but the rooftop is available every Tuesday night in Eastern Standard Time. In looking that up I discovered that there is a gym there, and that you can check out power tools. Now I find that surprising! It’s worth a visit, don’t you think?
Thanks for indulging me this trip down memory lane.
I walked around the lake, mostly because I saw all the birds across the way. But before I had gotten to taking pictures another walker stopped me to ask if I’d seen the duck on a nest. I hadn’t, I had walked right past it. He said there were four eggs there, and he and his daughters had just seen her rearrange the eggs and settle back down on them. I thought her nest was not very protected, even if getting a photo was a challenge.
I did get around to taking pictures of the birds, but it was the flowers and the bees that got me in trouble. I walked across the grass to get close enough to the flowers, but when I turned to go back to the car I found myself walking through wetness in the grass. In my flip flops. Mud. I’ve insisted that there is no mud in Florida, but I was wrong. This wasn’t just mud, it was more like tar, and it ended my travels for the day. I think I’m glad I didn’t have my hiking shoes on after all, they wouldn’t have survived. Flip flops, however, have at least nine lives.
