Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter

As you get older you get disconnected from familiar yearly milestones.  I swear that school and football practice just started.  Bam!  Just as suddenly grandkids are excited to graduate from junior high or kindergarten.  I swear it was last week. 
If life was like a calendar year, springtime would be the birth and fun days of elementary school, full of optimism and an ability to fall down without a visit to the doctor and a stern warning to take it easy.
Summer is our wild and adventurous season where everything seems within our reach and school, college, marriage and maybe that first baby are here and gone without so much as a recognition that “life is good”.  Boy howdy. 
Fall is the time when Life is Good, but we don’t always notice it.  Things speed up as career and family are suddenly filling every minute of your day. 
Balancing the time to be a little league coach, climb the corporate ladder, and take care of your spouse is exhausting.  You try to keep growing kids in clothes, pay for lessons, and buy a few grown up toys like a boat or UTV to satisfy something deep inside that wants to know, “why don’t we ever get to do anything fun?” 
You start showing up at a job that sometimes feel like, just a job.   The fall time is often a blur and is mostly seen disappearing in the rearview mirror. 
We gained some wisdom, and some weight, we have been knocked around a few times, made a few mistakes, but clearly we are expected to be responsible, voting, tax paying, informed citizens that volunteer for the PTA, sign up as a classroom parent, and coach t-ball.  And we never saw this coming…checking on our aging parents.
There you have it; you suddenly wake up one morning and see the snow falling and realize it is the winter of your life.  Time moves quickly and sure enough you are sometime or somewhere between turning 60 and dead. 
This isn’t the real winter; the snow isn’t going to stick, it’s a peek at tomorrow if you are fortunate.  You probably just retired, and your health is fine, or so you hope.
How did it get here so quickly how did the time go by so fast?  A few people older than you have died now.  A couple of people your age have had cancer or other awful things happen and withered along for years or died much too young.  Those events shook you up, but time keeps marching on, the seasons in the sun slip quickly past.
Your initial reaction is to do things you have been wanting to do.  You book a cruise or travel.  You had so many hopes and dreams and suddenly here it is, the winter of your life.  Whew.  I never thought I would get this tired doing fun things.
Just like you, I remember seeing old people shuffling along, stopping to talk to other old people without any sense of urgency and I too thought that would never be me. 
But, here I am.  I couldn’t imagine that I would ever be so slow, lack balance, or need a nap.  I didn’t think I would be a fussy eater, that food wouldn’t agree with me or that I would refuse to eat something because I just didn’t like it. 
I see many of my friends and they are putting on weight, hunching over, getting gray, going bald, their freckles have turned into liver spots, some have funny little habits, and they save mere morsels of food that in our younger days we would have thrown out or gulped down. 
Yep, I see old people and sometimes even catch a glimpse of one in a store window. I am that old person that I never thought I would be.  You will be one too.
I am pretty sure that winter has started.  I have lived long enough to know that I don’t know how long it will last.  With a little more urgency and appreciation I have decided to live deliberately. 
If your winter is not here, just know that it will get here much quicker than you think, so do the things that matter, spend time with your kids; they grow up and go away.  Whatever it is that you want to do, don’t wait too long, it will get harder when winter gets here. 
It is a fact; you don’t even know if you will get to enjoy all four seasons of your life.  Today you are as old as you have ever been, so bring with you all your experience and you are as young as you will ever be, so have some excitement for having another day to love your spouse, love your kids, and love your life completely and in a satisfying manner. 
Because tomorrow, if you get one, you will be just a little slower, putting something off for tomorrow, will not make it easier or less scary.  You may have come to the realization and accepted without becoming bitter that you are never going to be an Olympic athlete, you won’t fill a stadium with your music, or write that great American novel that will be made into a movie. 
But your happiness is that the world is full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  You can teach your grandkids how to fly a kite, or fish, or plant a garden.  Your name may not be written on the billboards on Broadway, but it can be etched in the heart of your family, friends, and neighbors.
You may be fortunate and have a few healthy decades or you might not.  Don’t give up your health for wealth.  You exchange time for everything so use time wisely and deliberately. 
Try to stay healthy.  No doubt there are aches and pains that you didn’t used to have.  That is part of life but keep moving. 
Keep walking, keep golfing, keep physically active.  Mobility later in life is critical to quality of life, so keep working those knees, legs, and arms. 
Keep emotionally healthy.  Read, study, learn something new, play games, talk to people, socialize with good people, it will keep your mind occupied and happy. 
It is not your worry to raise your grandkids, unless you have to.  It is not your worry to make your kids financially solvent. 
You did the best you could, taught them the best you could, showed them how to work hard and now it is their time to do just that.  It is their responsibility to take care of themselves and their family. 
Don’t leave them money to fight over, leave them memories to treasure, leave them an assurance that you believe in God and although you may not have been a perfect disciple of Christ you did your best. 
Let them remember that you visited the sick and afflicted, listened to those that needed a friend, cried when your pet died, held the door open for the elderly, jumped on a tramp with a four-year-old, and belly laughed at a good joke. 
Make sure they have seen that your faith isn’t strong because everything turned out okay; but your faith remains strong and you are okay no matter how things turn out.
Start to spend the money you earned without guilt; go see the things you wanted to see, taste that dessert you always wanted to, and spend the money you have on your spouse. 
When they are gone, the money just isn’t going to mean much to you.  Go enjoy spending time with them and the grandkids but leave the worry to their parents.  Pray for them and trust that God loves them as much as you do and wants what is best for them too. 
You don’t need to spend the remaining years stressing over all the things you can’t control.  Don’t live in the past, no doubt you made a few mistakes move on.  And don’t take all the credit for the victories you managed; chances are you have had many helpers, including divine help. 
Don’t stress about the future.  You lived this long and managed through many of life’s challenges, and you are going to do just fine with the next set of challenges.  You are stronger than you think.  Stay in the present.  As they say the presence is a present. 
Each day should be savored and enjoyed.  Laugh each day, sing along with your favorite songs, this is a great time to enjoy life, spend time with your spouse or friends. 
Don’t have a perfect yard or clean house.  Getting the grass mowed and perfectly edged is not going to mean much compared to sitting on the porch talking to your best friend holding hands and watching the sunset on beautiful day. 
You enjoyed the exuberance of a great spring and summer, you were at your best in fall, when you had a little wisdom and plenty of days ahead of you.  But now is your winter.  Maybe, you will be fortunate and have a long winter, but with the time you have enjoy that old music, those old memories and your old friends.