Conversations with Random People --30

 Today I walked into an elder care facility and as I was passing through the commons area, piano music! To  my left I saw a lady seated in her wheelchair as she was tickling the ivories. I moved close and to her left. As the number ended I applauded heartily. Picture, or hear if you will, the sound of a single person applauding in a large room occupied by only two people of a certain age.

"I love the old songs," the pianist said. "Do you know this one?' as she struck the keys. From the soundboard came the melody, accompanied harmoniously by the surrounding notes. of course, of an old favorite "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" I naturally burst into song on the first line, 'Five-foot two, eyes of blue." She played the number all the way through, and I sang it word perfect to the end. Note I did not say melodically perfect, but it was fun! 

Libby took her fingers from the keys and introduced herself. I volunteered my name, and we each had a new friend! I noted that these songs were popular in our day, indicating that we were pretty much of the same generation.  A gentleman never asks a lady her age, and I didn't. Nor did she ask me mine, for I suppose a lady doesn't get that personal with a new acquaintance. Suffice it to say that if I were a betting man, and if anyone were to discover our ages, we would be less than five years apart and I would further guess much closer than that.

Well, Libby volunteered that her birth name was Mary Elizabeth, but she had been called Libby all her life and she rather preferred it. She volunteered that she was a retired schoolteacher, and I said I was, too. She then told me that she had a piano in her classroom and she started each day with music as she believed tuning the kiddos in to joyful sounds early in the day ignited a spark of joy that would help carry them through all the day.

"Where did you teach?" I was emboldened to enquire.  

"I started in Greenfield, but I moved the second year to Knightstown where I finished my career.  Where, may I ask, did you teach?"

"I started in Wilkinson, but after three years moved to the Sheridan school system."

Clearly, we were both astonished.  Here are two strangers having a conversation about their parallel lives which were lived in the same time frame, and our early teaching experiences were within ten miles of each other. We shared a few more details of school life, wished each other well, and went our separate ways.

It brought a bit of joy into my life, meeting you, Libby.

That's the Spirit!

      Twice today, rainy day that it is, I have been greeted with "Nasty day, isn't it?" To which I responded the first time as I flung my arms wide as though to receive the rain with joy, to accept it for the blessing that it is, "It's a wonderful day, and I am thankful to have lived long enough to see it!"  The interrogator smiled and said, "Have a great day!"  That's the spirit.

     The second time I encountered the question I responded in the same manner. I was not well-received. The woman said to me, "Look at you. All wet, that's what you are." Perhaps she is right. I may be all wet, but I am enjoying this day that the Lord has allowed me to have in my life collection. 

     When I was a lad growing up in Colorado, a funeral home in Denver had this little aphorism printed at the bottom of its advertising, "Into each life some rain must fall." I have remembered that for eight decades. The meaning of this little gem may well be subject to interpretation. We know that rainfall is essential to life, that without it none of us would be here. So, perhaps the advertiser sees their words as encouragement to those bereft of a loved one. Yes, there will be rainy days, but life goes on. 

     I try in my own way to see each day as a blessing, some with rain, some with wind, or snow, some with sunshine and gentle breezes. (Snow is the hardest one for me to get excited about, but then I reflect that even on the coldest, sharpest, wintry day I have been blessed with shelter from the storm and, God willing, there will be another day tomorrow. And someone out there lives for the snow!)  The weather does not make our days; we make our days. Each day will present its challenges. The spirit and attitude with which we face the day will determine the level of joy or the depths of disappointment we may derive from it.

     "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." --Proverbs 17:22 ESV

Be Kind to the Elderly

 People make fun of old guys, asking, Why do they wear their belt so close to the armpits? I am an elderly gentleman, not to mention an old guy, not to put too fine a point on it. Life's experiences and empirical evidence may serve us well in this case, and since you have not lived long enough to observe it yourself, I will tell you why.

Stick with me.

People of a certain age (mine) tended to buy quality items "back in the day." These things virtually never wear out. Also, many old people endured hard times as they clawed their way through the world and "waste not, want not" became their mantra. I am still wearing slacks and sweaters, suits, even, that I bought when I was, as you might describe yourself, "middle-aged." They are still good. Would I go out and fritter away my hard-earned wherewithal on new? I think you know the answer to that.

Now an interesting if not marvelous thing tends to occur in the human physique as it ages. The elderly shrink as they get older, and the older they get the more they shrink. Observation, empirical evidence. Case, the first person. I, in my younger day, stood six foot three. If I straighten my spine against a wall and stand tall (yet flat-footed) the tape will catch me at just. . . just barely, six feet even. You do not have to have a degree in astrophysics to understand that my pants are too long. And both the solution and the answer to the original question is evident.

Thank you for asking; and thank you for your patience.