#52 Ancestor Challenge, 2019, Week 41, Context- Big Birthday

#52 Ancestor Challenge, 2019, Week 41, Context- Big Birthday

I Love My Life

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde

My family celebrated my really BIG birthday in July; I did not like becoming OLD, any more than I like green eggs and ham. But they treated me so royally, enlisting family and friends to send marvelous greetings turned into a treasured video, I recognized this is really the best time of my life. Right now, I love my life more than I ever have. 

Judith Viorst, the author of iconic children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, agrees with me; she has never loved her life more than she does now. She's also almost 90. Judith said, “It seems I have no wish to turn back the clock to 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. I prefer to press “hold” on the life that I currently live.  That’s true in spite of the fact that I am indisputably old—not older, not elderly, just…old. And the fact that so many people I’ve loved are dead. And the fact that my upper arms are in no condition to ever again be seen in public. And the fact that, as some late-night comic once said, my back is going out more often than I am.”

“It’s not that the days themselves now are so fabulous. My hair is thinning. My body is not. I can’t find my glasses or keys. And I spend so much time seeing specialists that, if they gave doctorates for going to doctors, I’d easily have earned a Ph.D. But still, I don’t hesitate. The best is not ahead or behind. It’s now.”

Like Judith Viorst, despite having gone through loss, grief, cancer, and many failings, I consider myself lucky that worse things did not happen to me. Judith said it best, “Gratitude does indeed bring comfort. Cultivating gratitude makes us happier people, more tolerant, less judgmental, more forgiving of family or friends when they annoy or neglect us, hurt our feelings or let us down.” 

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

Psalm 103 (RSV)