Staying Alive...

I appreciate the Benedictine attitude that every day is a new beginning! So as I read the book, The Gift of Years, a Benedictine book on "growing old gracefully," I am intrigued by Joan Chittister's words:

"... there is no such thing as having only one life to live. The fact is that every life is simply a series of lives, each one of them with its own task, its own flavor, its own brand of errors, its own type of sins, its own glories, its own kind of deep, dank despair, its own plethora of possibilities, all designed to lead us to the same end - ... a sense of fulfillment."

She goes on to say: "Each period of life has its own purpose. This later one gives me the time to assimilate all the others. The task of this period of life ... is to come alive in ways I have never been alive before."

I think about my mother - who lived a full life. She loved her career, enjoyed traveling and now at 94 is still, thankfully, happy most days - the days she doesn't focus on her loss of sight.

I think about my own opportunities for learning (and traveling) in retirement and am thankful... thankful for these opportunities to "come alive in ways I have never been alive before"!