We've Grown Old Together

Last week one my best and longest friends gave me a call. I'd had her on my mind and I feel badly that I wasn't the one to call her. You see she's my Mom's age and she'd had a fall which led to a broken leg several months back. Therefore, I feel remiss for not staying in touch with her to see how she's progressed.

In our conversation she brought up the fact that she'll be 88 years old this Nov. and it hit me..."Charlotte, we've grown old together!" We met 15 years ago when she was only 73 and I was only 51. Much has happened in my life during those 15 years and less has changed in hers, yet more physically.

I sat down to read from Further Along The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck and came upon the following and I knew I had to stop and write in my blog: "We cannot go back. We can only go forward. To go back to Eden would be like trying to return to our mother's womb, to infancy. Since we cannot go back to the womb or infancy, we must grow up. We can only go forward through the desert of life, making our way painfully over parched and barren ground into increasingly deeper levels of consciousness."

Reading further, I enjoyed this...Peck was asked about his 2nd book and was asked what it was about. He states: "I went into this intellectual bit about how it was an integration of psychiatry and religion. After about thirty seconds he commented. 'Well, it sounds to me like it's about getting your shit together.'
That man had the gift of discernment. So at the next TV talk show I went to, I asked if I could tell that story.
They said no. Thinking that they objected to the word 'shit,' I offered to say 'stuff' instead. But they still said no.
People just don't want to talk about maturation. It is too painful."

I like thinking about myself as becoming mature instead of just plain OLD and that's why I'm continuing to read this book. But as I'm reading I'm also finding something interesting while spending time with my grandchildren....especially one event that happened today!

If you read a previous post about living so you'll be missed, I was thinking today while struggling to put a DVD cover my grandson had taken off, how dumb he must think I am. I sat here trying to put it in while it was closed and I gave up. When I asked him to put it in since I couldn't, he said, Oh, Nana, that's easy and proceeded to open it up to where it was a flat surface and the cover slipped easily back into it's place.

He's helped me in several far more challenging tasks than that one proving great mechanical ability and I'm convinced he has a great future. At 13 years old, he's got strong hands and a strong mind to go with it. I hope he'll miss me when I'm gone but I know I'll miss him when I leave to go anywhere (and his siblings...all 5).

I may sound rambling, but I think about growing old and having old friends and now kids that make me feel "dumb," but I'm glad to be near where they get that opportunity! Perhaps it's a sign of maturity!