i ended up takin' my walk around the grocery store
this morning...pickin' up some stuff to celebrate
my elderly neighbor's birthday today. she's eighty
something. thought it was 81 or 83. yo tells me it's
82! one of those that's high enough to make me catch
my breath.
i was buying candles and i looked at how many boxes
i had to get. wow. wow. wow.
i started thinking.....josh is an entire box of candles
right now. this year i'll be OVER TWO boxes!!! ohmygosh.
this is just too weird.
i think of my neighbor over there, sitting alone....
and i wonder about life, about growin' old.
it sure looks hard.
i've been watchin'. cause i know now i'm headin' that way.
for awhile, i didn't really know. but i know now.
and i watch.
i see certain things keep a sparkle in you and certain things
take that sparkle away. i want to pay attention to that.
tv sure looks like a sparkle sucker to me. there should be
a big sign on that thing 'caution. i suck sparkle out of you.'
and caring about others and reaching out sure seems to grow
the sparkle.
i watch the elderly whenever i get a chance these days.
some glow and are positively beautiful. some just whither.
some get really really ugly.
what a mix.
what a mix.
i asked a question over on face book....what do you want to
look back on when you're in your eighties and say you've done?
i think maybe i want to say i learned how to sparkle when i was
old. and i think preparing for that starts right now.
5 comments:
Funny this...as I grow older I have to sit in the creation of who I am...what I have experienced, where I am going from here...and what I project onto my future...and so for me, my future is to be joy. I am Joy!
That will light my sparkler full on...and it does not matter how many candles I have...I only need that one candle to light, to light my Joy, to be that Joy, to hold that Joy...
Happy Birthday Neighbor!
Bless You Terri for honoring your neighbor...
:) You are Joy!
Ahhhhh, I can envision a new hoodie.....
"grow the sparkle"
You sparkle and shine dear friend, but more importantly you shine light on others so they may see their sparkle.
As Jan Phillips wrote; "one lifetime under this name to produce a work of art that says, "This is how I saw the world."
Thank you for sharing (in so many ways) how you saw the world!!
I really think if you can find gratitude for whatever comes your way, you will always feel abundantly blessed. And when that happens, how can you help but sparkle and overflow all over the place?
I would like to grow old remembering to find just one little thing each day that can fill me with thanks.
I would like to grow old and be love. I hope I'm kind. I don't want to be alone.
You are a blessing to your neighbor.
Learning how to grow our sparkle does start now...and we learn it over and over, and more and more, every single day. I've always been intrigued by elderly folks, too -- I want to sit at their knees and hear about their lives -- hear about what stole their sparkle, or how they got it back, or how they held tight to it all along...
Here's to all of us trying to maintain and nourish the sparkle!
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