4/28/2019 Caring Bridge

Perspective

Journal entry by Al Negstad — a minute ago

"If you are reading this then you are getting old.  Aging is one of the blessings of being alive, allotting us knowledge experience and wisdom.  Lines and wrinkles are not enemies, but rivers and mountains which dot the map of our life's journey.  Contrary to what some may think, getting old is not a curse, but a blessing; one that most people throughout history did not have the luxury of experiencing.  At the dawn of the 20th century, the average human life expectancy hovered close to fifty years.  Advances in medicine and technology, since that time, have increased that number to almost eighty years.  This does not change the fact that all of us will one day pass from this earth.  Death is the common denominator that unifies all living things."  Quoted from the Foreward, p. xxiii, in Life's Final Season: A Guide for Aging and Dying with Grace, Richard P. Holm, MD. 
    One of the effects of Joanne's death on me has been to increase the awareness of my own age.  Blessed with good health and abundant opportunity it has been easy to live in a form of denial about aging.  On the one hand, I do not want to forgo activities and experiences simply because of the year I was born.  Yet, on the other hand, being aware of my age makes me grateful that I can do so much of what I want at this a, i.e., I'm less likely to take my blessings for granted.  "So teach me to number my days that I may get a heart of wisdom."  Ps 90:12 RSV

Blessings,

Al