THOSE WERE THE DAYS “Sand In An Hour Glass”
I will have 90 candles on my birthday cake this year, well, probably not, that would cause quite a bonfire in the middle of our dining table but, whether I have four or five candles designating “birthday” or the numbers nine and zero written out, I am a realist and am fully aware I maybe should not be buying green bananas.
Aunt Mae was blind for the last 40 years of her life, she lived alone and was quite capable of taking care of herself. Lights in her one bedroom house were on timers activated in the evening to deter possible burglars. Household maintenance was taken care of but all in all, she was an amazing lady. Aunt Mae caught a cold while visiting a friend in hospital, the cold turned ugly and my aunt passed away at the age of one hundred and three.
Grandma Sanders was one of a kind. After my “harumph” truly English starchy, stuffy, most lovable grandfather passed away, grandma seemed to come out of her shell. She loved to dance and always went with my Mom and Dad when invited to various weddings or festive gatherings. Grandma would order one glass of beer and put a saccharine tablet in the glass. Why? It really didn’t matter because she only took one, maybe two sips and never finished the drink. Grandma was living with my parents when just a few months shy of one hundred she took her place in the heavens, she had already lost her sight and when her hearing also went – well, she still smiled but I cried.
There were nine in our family, Mom and Dad, four girls and three boys. Cancer took some of my family and heart attack others, I am the only one left. My grandmother, aunt, mother and sister were all blind when they were welcomed to heaven, my one sister had Parkinson’s Disease and one had Alzheimer’s.
So why am I listing all this information, does anyone care other than me? Actually, although most would deny it, when we all get to that certain age we do have the last chapter in the book of our life in the back of our minds. Time goes by so swiftly anymore yes, we do begin to wonder.
I have no intentions of going anywhere for a long time yet but just a little hint, when you see an elderly person in your family staring off into space, he or she is either reliving certain events in their life or dwelling on the few years they may have ahead of them. That is not a morbid or maudlin thought, there comes a time when we look back at what we have done or what we wish we had done and the things we know at our age we will never do. The bad things seem to boil to the top and we struggle hoping we added some happiness to family, friends and even those we have through time, forgotten.
My mother had a saying about getting old, “the days are long but the years are short.” No truer words were spoken.
Russ Sanders
epigram@nexicom.net
Photo credit: Jordan Benton
