Life Cycles

Woooo. I don’t know where to start on the past couple of weeks. Life cycles. The sadness of a father’s death. The joys of young grandchildren. I have experienced so much recently.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to me on the passing of my father. I was overwhelmed with the love expressed by cards, and online messages, by hugs, and more. I have a wonderful mix of family and friends who let me know I was in their thoughts and prayers. I thank you all very much for that.

Part of aging is having a parent pass on. We have all experienced it and if we are lucky it is when they are old. My father lived to the ripe age of 97 years old. He had been ready to go for a long time. So, when he left it was sad but also a blessing. He knew his good years on earth were past, and he did not like being a burden, especially to his oldest daughter.

So, memories of him will live on – in many ways. Mostly he will be remembered by what he taught, and how he helped so many people. He raised three kids, and they went on to have four grandchildren, and now six great-grandchildren.

Of those great-grandchildren four of them are my grandchildren. All four were here over the 4th of July week. Oh my!! There was so much activity and laughs! There was lots of love and silliness! When the little ones are around the rest of the world goes away. One day I didn’t even stop to brush my teeth until evening. Ha. Okay, hygiene is still important, but I’m just saying when the children are around this Mimi puts them before everything else.

The cycle of life was obvious to me these past weeks because with my father passing, his generation is gone. I am part of the oldest ones now. I realize how I am in that role, and I have made a cognitive decision to stay connected. I want to be ‘there’ for the young ones. I want to be able to relate to them. I want them to have fun with me like I have fun with them.

In past generations the age divisions and therefore age beliefs were obvious. I think these days (and maybe it’s just from my ‘older’ point of view) but I don’t think we have to have the same categories. It used to be that old people were unchangable. “Set in their ways.” Unwilling to try new things. “That’s how it’s always been done.” Back in my day…. Blah, blah, blah. Old people used to live in the past.

Life definitely has cycles. But they are not ‘defined.’ Not anymore.

I think old people who get stuck in a time from the past lose out on the ‘now.’ And they often don’t care about the future. Or, they don’t look for what joys the days ahead can bring.

As an older individual, a mother, and grandmother, I see my days now as a time to make a difference. I have more time to do it. I have freedom with that time. Thankfully I have endless choices on what I can do – for my family and my community. I am blessed with good health and I believe God has given me it for using.

Life has cycles. Once I was a child, a student, then a teenager, and a girlfriend. I became an employee, a hard worker, then a wife. I was blessed to become a mother, a traveler, a reader, a musician. I have been a daughter and a sister. Now I am also a grandmother. I am an activist. I am a Christian. I am a quilter. I am a dancer.

What will be next in my life? What will I add to my ‘being’?

I look forward to whatever happens as my life continues to cycle.