Mind Change

Wasn’t it just a week ago, that Mom was putting band-aides and mercurochrome on my scraped knee? Didn’t I learn to ride a bicycle just a few days back? When was it I caught my first fish – yesterday? I have seen an automobile moving down the street, and recognized it as a “late” model, only to have reality inform me that what I recognized as a “late model” is really 25 years old. I look in my mirror and expect to see a younger man. But my vision returns reflections of gray hair, wrinkles and a furrowed brow. But I don’t interpret that reflection as age … The wrinkles at the corners of my eyes, are really awards from shared laughter with friends; The furrows in my brow are not from stress, but permanent expressions of pleasant surprise at what life has brought to me; the gray hair I see is not from age, but each dozen are tiny milestone markers earned for having successfully passed through the years with the help and aid of my family and friends. While my face may appear to be wrinkled, my heart will never be. As time passes, I find the beauty that might have been outwardly displayed earlier in my life, seeps inside, and becomes more than mere appearance. My slowing gait is not due to health issues, but rather an extension of being more aware of that which surrounds me, and taking the time to appreciate them. My hands, display scars and calluses from decades of work and manipulation in such things as helping my children in learning to walk; repairing that which needed repair; creating things that have never been before. They remain at my sides, awaiting yet other experiences. Time has served me well … and I hope I have reciprocated. I realize that countless ancestors have had the same, or similar, visions and thoughts within their lifetimes. I recall now, when older relatives informed me many, many years ago, that I would have these feelings and memories. As always, they were right. My mind moves at the same speed it did when I was 18, but my body rejects the ideas it conveys. I’ve spent my lifetime making my bed, and the time is approaching when I must lie down in it. But … before I lie down, there are still loads of Life’s presentations to wash … meals of unseen experience to prepare, and … coffee pots rich in friendships to enjoy. I’ll just do those things at a slower, less stressful, more enjoyable pace. The sense of urgency within my past of most things in which I engaged, is long gone, replaced by patience and contemplation. My life has become comfortably mellow as I embrace the acceptance of that mind change, and I patiently await … tomorrow.