When I met with this woman it was eight years after her husband had died and she was angry. Her face was creased with frown lines and with a caustic edge to her voice she picked away at a service that was eight years in her past. And try as I might, I could not understand the anger until, finally, in frustration, she flung her pen across the room and shouted, “He died!”
“We were supposed to retire and see the world, buy an RV! We had saved and planned for it! And then he got sick and he took our money for medical bills and he still died. He took our dreams and he took our future and now I am here alone.”
We hear a lot about Golden Years- a great and wonderful twenty-year someday, where we will enjoy care-free, worry-free days of bliss.
Well, I can’t say it never happens, but I can say it seldomhappens. Like the woman in the story, I see time and again how the unexpected happens to ruin any thought of Golden Years.
But, I can also say with certainty that you doget twenty Golden Years, but not like you might expect- these Golden Years are given to you in 15- twenty minute, half-hour segments, each and every day, and it’s up to you to enjoy them before they are gone.
Like the daffodils you see in the picture- a rare 10-day treat at the very beginning of spring- they will often send shoots up through drifts of late winter snow, promise of a spring to come and you must enjoy them quickly before the deer meander through the yard and see if they taste good– another brief moment that is part frustration at losing yet another blossom to deer and part wonder because as aggravating as deer can be, they are also grace and beauty personified…
Every person has their own version of Golden Years. I suppose you know right now what yours is. I suggest you enjoy it to it’s fullest, today while you can. Savor each second before it is gone– like a beautiful gift that sits on your table unopened.