We need more than food these days.Bernie and I clinked our glasses together this morning, but it wasn’t a toast. In fact, they weren’t drinking glasses that touched, but our eye glasses. We always pray together at the start of the work day, share a kiss, and then go our separate ways. But when we kissed this morning, our glasses clinked and we laughed about how things are changing as we age. Neither one of us used to wear glasses; now Bernie has reading glasses in every room of our apartment (so they’re always handy) and wears prescription bifocals all day long at school. I wear my glasses much less than Bernie does, but I’m not very far behind him. There’s no denying the aging process.
Recently, I was asked to think of a movie title that best describes me now. I chose “Death Becomes Her,” a 1992 comedy about two women (Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn) who try to roll back the inevitable physical effects of aging by drinking a secret potion. In the end, despite all their efforts, their bodies break apart and, as they fall down a flight of steps, their legs, torsos, and heads roll off in all different directions. I have no magic potion, but I don’t go anywhere these days without my vitamins, calcium, aspirin, and Bengay, and if I forget my glasses, I get a headache from squinting when I need to read. (Good thing the aspirins are handy.)
I’ll turn 52 years old next month, but I so clearly remember an incident when I was 36 that it could have happened yesterday. Operation Mobilization was seeking volunteers to help when its ship, the Doulos, docked in Kobe, Japan. We were living in Kobe then, and I was excited about the opportunity to serve. Imagine my shock when I heard that they wanted volunteers between the ages of 18 and 35. I couldn’t believe I was too old! That was the first time I’d ever thought about aging. I seem to think about it more and more these days. It certainly didn’t help a couple of months ago when a young woman with whom we work told me that she feels comfortable at our house because our Pfaltzgraf dinnerware is the same pattern as that of her grandparents! (Earlier, I’d heard from someone that our pattern is no longer made and can be found only in antique stores, but I’d chosen to ignore the implications.)
Obviously, not thinking about getting older doesn’t arrest the aging process. So I guess my only choice is how I go about it. Even if there were one, I wouldn’t buy a magic potion (although I’m okay with spending a little money on hair color). I know the spirit and the focus of one’s life are far more important than physical appearance. Therefore, I affirm with the psalmist, “Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come” (Psalm 71:17-18). May it be so in my life!
