Barbara, Age 76
It`s been six years since I tried to blow out all 70 candles. And though my neck sags, and I can`t remember my neighbor`s name, though I need hearing aids and depend upon Depends… these most recent years have brought a kind of ecstasy that make such indignities mere inconveniences. After a long delay impatiently awaiting the arrival of grandchildren, I`ve recently been blessed with two winsome grandsons who have made these years more glorious than my most extravagant imaginings.
Though I have trouble getting up after a floor game with our three year old, and I keep the shape of a chair when I rise, this phase of life has been a gathering of fruits nurtured over many years. While I anticiapted reliving the joys of raising my children through theirs, I had not foreseen the sheer joy of seeing my son as parent to his son.
A parallel process has taken place in my career. Though I am adled by the challenges of new technology, and my clinical field has changed dramatically, I enjoy the cumulative experience of many active years in the field and the pleasure of continued contact with generations of students I supervised over more that three decades.
Like so much of life, the 70s have brought challenges and losses, blessings and unexpected reward.
Dear Barbara,
I am 75 and have been a grandmother since I was 36! Married very young (as was my daughter) I had 4 children, 7 grandchildren and now am the very proud great grandmother of 8! I can identify with what you said-Seeing my children as grandparents is so amazingly wonderful. Holding a great grandchild and seeing their parents and grandparents in them is thrilling! I have been so very blessed and I try to just keep on keeping on! I have some physical challenges but I try to just keep going (like the Eveready bunny)
Thanks for reminding me of the joys of family-and the many reasons we have to keep going-