75! I just turned 75…in my head I am so much younger!
It befuddles me (I like that word 😊) that I am that old! How did that happen?
I have vague memories of:
- being a little girl sneaking into the kitchen while my mom watched the Perry Como Hour (the only tv she ever watched…I think she had a crush on him). I’d pull up a chair, climb onto the counter, I could just reach over the refrigerator and reach the forbidden cookies. Forbidden cookies were the best.
- walking to school with my best friend in every weather. Back then most families only had one car that the dads took to work (so we never got a ride).
- Singing Irish songs for St Patrick’s day because the nuns at our Catholic school were Irish.
- Finally getting rides to school in high school because the only Catholic high school was several towns away…and also occasionally ditching school.
- My first job selling candy at a movie theatre followed by being a waitress in a restaurant…as I was punching out, a humongous rat walked in!
- Taking a trip with a group called Project Christopher where I spent a summer with 5 other kids (17-18 yrs old) living in a church basement in the slums of Winnipeg. (Today I suppose you would call it a mission trip.) We set up a day care and visited/helped an old person or two. One elderly lady decided she needed to feed us and gave us tepid tea and stewed tomatoes…as soon as we left, I threw it all up!
Then there are clearer memories…
- Working at Carsen Pirie Scott (I think is non-existent now) and meeting this guy named Danny…turned out to be my husband of over 54 years so far!
- Studying my newborn and wondering how anyone could think something so perfect could be from random atoms colliding…there MUST be a Creator God.
- After that it was a blur of raising two kids, PTOs, Girl Scout leader, Cub Scout leader, field trips, high school drama, my son being arrested, my daughter getting married.
- My heart being torn in two as my son could not cope in this world (he currently lives at his sister’s not exiting the house except once or twice a year).
- The joy in my heart watching my daughter marry the love of her life.
- My mom & dad dying. My father and mother-in-law dying (I was closer to my mother-in-law than my own mom). My best friend dying of cancer, my sister dying of cancer and more recently my brother dying of cancer too.
- Amidst all that I met my God and Savior without whom I probably would not have survived many of my trials.
And now…
I have 8 grandchildren (two are technically grandchildren-in-law), most living just 2 football fields away from us. They are growing up too!
When young, time seemed to stand still. (Especially when my kids were 2 and 4…those years felt like they moved in slow motion!) But as I age, slow down, take more naps…time seems to fly by.
I am left pondering if there is a reason that I have been left walking this earth for ¾ of a century. I have no idea other than that, at this juncture of my life, I feel compelled to study God’s Word (Bible) and use my remaining time to glorify Him
At age 75, I feel more blessed and at peace with this chaotic world than I ever have in my life. I know it is because I have a deeper relationship with my Triune God (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).
Future…
As each day goes by, I am in awe of the Creator of my soul, mind and body. I am comforted in knowing that though my body may give out, my soul will remain…not only remain but be in heaven with our incredible God. Now that’s a blessing beyond compare!
“Though you have not seen Him (Jesus), you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an expressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:8-9