We Are Living in a Beaver Colony!

It seems like we are living in a beaver colony these days:  it's just one d@# thing after another!  James' parents are facing many challenges related to health problems.  James' dad fell last week and broke his femur, by his hip.  Surgery was needed to place a rod in his femur and he is now in a rehab facility to try to get some mobility back.  His dementia (Lewy Body Disorder) will prevent him from making a full recovery, but we are praying he will be able to stand and walk some.

James' mother suffers from vascular dementia and she is very confused about the recent events and needs some help with the everyday cares: paying bills, making decisions, meals, medication, etc.  She is not willing to go to a facility that would help her so James and his sister are trying to fill in the void.

These events (which by-the-way have been on-going for many years) have given me sincere and earnest reflection regarding my own mortality and aging.  I turned 60 years old in July, along with my loving husband, and I know some day we will be facing life-changing decisions regarding our well-being.  Hear my prayer, O Lord, that I will remain close to YOU and give my life to YOU each day.  May I grow old in YOUR love and grace.

Here is James' reflection on turning a decade older:

I’m feeling my age a bit. My metabolism has slowed. My joints are stiffening, despite regular application of miracle drugs. My eyesight is dimming, literally. I care, but I don’t fret.

I have been writing quite a bit lately, about friends, the land and life on it. It has become a little like sitting in the back of a motor boat, watching yourself ski. I notice at first I am moving back and forth across the wake of the boat, then as I tire, getting aligned with it so that the swells are flattened and the pull of the rope requires less effort to resist. I used to relish “jumping the wake” and getting out where the force of the ropes pulling perpendicular to my path would send me soaring almost ahead of the boat itself. I never was a great water skier, I never mastered the slalom, or anything else in my life for that matter, but it is a certainty that I did enjoy most of it.

What I like to imagine now is a period in life when I have reduced my wants to the point where I require little force to be exerted to meet my needs. I don’t mean “going to seed”. For what I long is time to reflect and describe, through word and drawn pictures, what of this life is available to cherish and too valuable to lose. That too is work, and I hear its call.

Watching sunsets with your life partner does that to you.

James