At 92, I have many blessings, one being able to still count them
Last month I reluctantly disposed of two bouquets of roses that I had received for my birthday. The red and pink petals were dropping, and the lilies had lost their delicious odor, but looking at them served to remind me of what a lucky woman I am. My birthday celebration was all week long, like what I understand is a Polish wedding.
Now a birthday is not such a big deal – everybody has one every year whether we want them or not.
But I was 92, not a favorite age. In fact, I thought of having a backward birthday and trying for 29. Nobody would believe that, so I am resigned – I am 92 years old. My friends from the present and the past sent me cards of congratulations. I was surprised at how many people remembered, given my own sins of omission in this category of late.
The custom of recording in my datebook the dates on which friends were to be congratulated was one I used to pursue religiously. Not so any more, as dates and reminders are subject to my aging memory. I am ashamed to be so well remembered.
And my Facebook “friends,” many of whom are my friends away from the computer as well, remembered me with good wishes. It almost took the sting out of being 92.
In fact, I sum up my blessings gratefully. At 92, I can walk, think, read, cook (if I chose), socialize, drink (in moderation), digest, and have friends and a loving family. What more could anyone want? A great place to live and enough money, and I have those too.
I am never lonely; in fact, when I’m alone I get things done that are waiting for me. Many of them are still waiting and may be still when I die, but I mean to get them done. My age and my busy life demand rest on the couch too, even when I don’t mean to.
On my first trip to the Caribbean, a long time I ago, I sat on a balcony in Puerto Rico, looking at the blue water below, sipping a tall blue drink, waiting for my husband while thinking, “What is a little girl from Shelbyville, Kentucky doing in a place like this?”
I remember that feeling, the sight and the drink as if it were yesterday. Many trips and many years later, I still have that feeling – a kind of awe that my life has been so good, in spite of the griefs that life brings inevitably.
This column is usually concerned with what is going on in the world – today’s is a blog about what is going on in my world. Forgive me – I’ll get back the regular format next month.
I’m feeling so blessed and so lucky. Sharing that seemed the right thing to do, as I sum up my celebration.