Friday, February 24, 2017

Age and Feelings

Today is my mother’s 103rd birthday. She lives in Arizona where the sun nearly always shines. At her age, however, she doesn’t get out in the sunshine; she observes it from her assisted living center. She has friends, lots of them. She has family living nearby. She works crosswords several times each day and still reads a book a week. Yes she is aging; no she is not a shell of a person yet. Her horizons are limited but alive just the same. Very much so.

Today is also a dental day for me. Adjusting a lower partial to function better; filling some gaps that allow food to pack away between gum and teeth; and a time for more healing from a recent oral surgery before filling that gap with a indentured servant-tooth!

I had ignored my dental health for several years. Too costly to keep up with but the pain and growing disability of it all moved me to find a new dentist (mine had retired!). Luckily I found a very good fellow nearby. A referral from a friend. And he laid out a plan of attack that, with insurance, is manageable. This will take several months to complete. But the journey has begun and 4 weeks into it some bright light is visible on the horizon. The worse of the pain is over. Now to move on.

So, a major birthday for mom and major dental work for me. Such is life. It is immediate in our lives. For the rest of you – and for me as well – we have other news to digest and manage. Financial concerns. Weather concerns and challenges. Lifestyle issues, and health in general. Relationships. Traffic on local roadways. Politics. Governance. Trump!

Yes there are issues to be managed. Both age and feelings figure into all of the above. No matter that past experiences we still have today to live and cope with. My faith issue from yesterday is still too fresh to report on accomplishments, but they will come in time. Just more age and feeling to experience before the rewards are realized!

The business of life is daily. The future is yet to be. The past is over. Let today be the focus so tomorrow will be better for our efforts.

For now, just let me heal. I still have a delectable prime rib of beef to look forward to when I can chew it well and gain the flavors! Oh that it will be soon. For now I remember it well and look forward to a new memory to be born.

The drill awaits!  Happy Birthday, Mom!!

February 24, 2017


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