Aging Well
This fall break I will be visiting my 85-year-old mother in Wyoming as she continues to recover from a broken leg. Her injury was sustained as she rode her beloved moped around the neighborhood. Last Friday night I had the privilege of attending a dinner honoring a 92-year-old parishioner from my husband’s church for his lifetime achievement in the glass industry. The thin glass we all take for granted on cell phones, lap tops and flat screen TVs was this man’s invention. Earlier in the week we had dinner at Westminster Canterbury where our hosts, all in their late 80s and early 90s, regaled us with tales of their life adventures. One visited Central America in the volatile 60s, another traveled all over the world as an agronomist setting up projects for the World Bank, and another keeps up with the latest political and religious happenings, locally and around the globe.
As someone who spends most of her waking hours working with young adults, I found this past week to be enlightening and inspiring. The wise elders that surrounded me had so much still to offer. While their physical bodies may be beginning to diminish, their spirits were lively and energizing. I was reminded of the theory of Episcopal priest and theologian, Matthew Fox:
Fox wants to retire the word retirement (there is a hint of tiredness in the term itself) and substitute refirement.” For him that means tapping into the fire in the belly, the passion that spurs creativity and compassion, the zeal that makes every day an adventure.*
This fall break many students will be returning home to visit family members, including grandparents and other older relatives. I hope that time will be made in busy schedules to literally sit at the feet of these wise ones. To listen well to their stories, to recognize the richness of their life experiences, and to thank them for their many contributions to family and community life. And as I visit with my mom, I will pray for patience, recognizing that aging also carries with it special challenges that I can’t begin to understand, but that I can at least attempt to appreciate. For should I live a long life myself, I will one day be an elder surrounded by the young. May I live my life now in such a way that when re-tirement becomes an option, I will choose instead to be re-fired up about those issues I hold dear and those relationships I treasure.