I almost thought it wouldn’t happen. Our daughter Lauren and husband Sam live such busy lives with her job and all her boys school and sports activities. We weren’t going to travel to Charlotte for the weekend and didn’t want her to come all that way to Hendersonville but I wanted so much to see her and the boys that I thought for awhile we might miss them until maybe they came closer camping this summer. The sadness I felt at that prospect was consuming so I tried to figure out a compromise for travel and thought of Crowders Mountain where we had met up before. This became our agreed upon plan but it too presented logistical problems because Tess can’t hike and I’m pretty disabled myself after the surgery for sciatica. But in the last minutes of planning Lauren suggested that we all meet at the VERONÉT Vineyards and Winery near Crowders Mountain. And so we did and so we had a wonderful afternoon. We got a bottle of wine and Sam bought a huge charcuterie platter. Lauren brought me a tray of pasteries and the boys made me Birthday Cards. The card that Lauren gave me, the words were so sweet they bought tears to my eyes. I played catch with Nolan and we met a nice lady who was there with her mom and their rescue dog Cooper, a black Cocker Spaniel. We became quick friends and she took our pictures. Holly was recuperating from her surgery so she was here today while Dexter was home but all in all it was a very happy day and a very Happy Birthday for me.
When I was young I just assumed that old people had it made. That they didn’t have many feelings and they just had their little old people issues but it all didn’t mean much. I heard advertisements for home health and loneliness and the laughingly hysterical Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!!!
Well it’s all so different now that I’ve suddenly grown old. The aches and the pains are very real as are all the other feelings. We miss our family, we miss our youth and the strength and skills we used to take for granted. And yes, we feel lonely and that hurts too. We have everybody and everything but despite that we don’t feel like we have it made. Getting older brings its own set of worries and the sensitivities are much like a child’s. Today was a most wonderful day. Today I have my wife Tess who I love with all my heart but yes, we spend too much time fighting and hurting each other. I think back to our honeymoon for those few days in Charleston when we had far more love than money but now we have our baby girl who has her own babies and those babies are too big for me to carry and they have their busy busy lives… but they were all there with me and for me and I am so very very very Blessed as I say to myself one more time
Happy Birthday 🎂
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