ON GROWING OLDER

 

It's amazing what having another birthday can do.  I had one recently (a major one) and it started me thinking about time and how little of it we may have.  Of course, we could all get hit by a truck tomorrow, but I mean we need to learn how to appreciate each day given to us.

It's easy to just grind through a day without stopping to look at the wonderful things around us.  I have a Facebook friend who truly seems to know how to observe the little things that color our lives.  Her blog posts are full of beautiful things that many of us would not stop to see.   Do you see yourself here Theanne?

That old saying about stopping to smell the roses becomes even more relevant as we age.  I used to sit at the kitchen table in the morning with my coffee and read the paper.  Now I take my cup out onto the porch and look at everything around me.  My kitty, Sweetie Puss, enjoys these morning outings as much as I do.  While I watch the morning sun coloring the clouds, she watches the lizards climb on the plants outside the screen - knowing she could catch them if only she could get out there.

There are a pair of cardinals that visit my bird bath almost every day, and once they came with a pair of tiny replicas of themselves.  Proud parents showing the little ones how to take a morning bath.  I was afraid to move for fear of frightening them off.  Even Sweetie Puss sat still to watch.

Early morning is the best - before the lawn mowers or the school buses fracture the stillness with the busyness of life.  I do my best thinking then - uninterrupted by the telephone or the computer or the planning of the day.

Late afternoon is good too, because of the squirrel.  There is a sassy squirrel that lives in a tree at the back of my yard.  He travels each day from that side of the yard to the trees on the opposite side - then returns each afternoon to his home.  To accomplish this trip he runs across the screen enclosure over the pool, hops down onto the screen around the porch, and travels sideways to the other side.  He does this every day at about the same time and Sweetie Puss, who to my knowledge has not learned to tell time, knows when he is about to do this and goes to the door watching for him.  She likes to go out on the porch and watch his journey across the screen high above her head.  Sometimes he will stop, hanging upside down, and waggle his bushy tail at her. This usually sends her into a paroxysm of activity that I'm sure he finds quite amusing.  If squirrels could laugh, he would.

Think of what I would miss if I were in front of a computer or a TV screen!  I enjoy my life tremendously and am thankful for each day I have.