Memories and Aging Well

The Difference Love Makes

I’ve been trying to grab the feeling of being loved and in love. It’s something so ethereal as to defy description. It makes the very air I breathe sweeter, safer, more nourishing.

Look at it from a practical standpoint. If I did not love someone so much and he did not love me, I would still have my same body, my same mind. I would still have the same values to build on and the same education and age and looks.

But somehow, they are all BETTER because I love and am loved.

You know what amazes me the most? All I have to do to deserve all this love is to BE. To exist. To live one day after the other. Just by doing so, I seem to earn his love and devotion.

Am I being silly? Is this something unique to me?

Or—what a wonderful thought—are there hundreds…thousands…millions of people out there who are as loved as you are, and I am. Well, my goodness, I think that is the case! Millions of people are loved and in love. We all experience this wonderment of the soul.

I want to meet them all. I want to shake their hands and congratulate them and share their joy.

And if you are one of them, oh my, but we are the lucky ones.

[Show #381]

Surviving Our Parents

Backstory

This week’s radio show is a reminder of how baby boomers miraculously survived the perils of their childhoods. Did you ever realize how at-risk we were? Free wheeling daredevils who lacked the multiple safeguards bestowed on today’s kids. Let me know what you remember of your perilous upbringing.

Surviving Our Parents

Hey you kids out there, born and raised in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s! Have you ever wondered how we managed to survive this far?

We were born to mothers who smoked or drank while they carried us. Our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored lead based paint. We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles or cabinets. We shared one soft drink among many friends and ate white bread and real butter. We spent pennies on candy and drinks that were pure sugar. But we stayed slim because we were always outside playing.

Boys got a BB gun for their 10^th birthday and nobody got their eye knocked out regardless of what your mom predicted. We rode our bikes without helmets, and hung our heads out car windows, untethered by seat belts. We even rode by the dozens in the open backs of pickup trucks whoopin’ and hollerin’ all the way to the swimming hole. And once there we swung by ropes from trees and dropped into the water wearing no water shoes.

Now, I’m not advocating this kind of fearless shenanigans. Just marveling at how we all survived them to tell about it. Things sure have changed.

But one thing is sure; kids, one day you will find that you survived your parents too!

Show #214

Stories Of Christmas Past

At the local Rotary Club, members arrange programs for the weekly meetings. This year, I had the program right before Christmas.

I asked Rotarians to bring and tell their own Christmas stories…stories of a Christmas past. For my story, I read a script from one of these radio shows. A young pastor was inspired by the way a mom and dad taught their young children the meaning of Christmas. Their story became the essence of his Christmas sermons for the next 50 years.

Another Rotarian recalled the Christmas when his dad was out of work. There was no money for a tree. He scraped together $3, walked three miles to where the trees were being sold, and dragged a scrawny tree – all he could afford – all the way home in the snow. Although he was just 16, he took responsibility for his family’s good Christmas.

There were stories of gratitude for gifts provided by the Club. Tales of elderly brought happiness by a Christmas visit. A veteran club member told of spending Christmas on a war-torn island in the Pacific.

Even those who told no story out loud seemed filled with private memories remembered. It was such a good program – just sharing special moments with people who had become friends through the fellowship of giving and caring and being proud Americans.

[Show #468]

« Previous Page