WALKING EACH OTHER HOME

Walking Each Other Home

Christine and I have stepped off seven plus decades of time while we have inhabited earth. Our cadence was distinct and independent through our first two decades of life and then we met. Immediately we found a rhythm, a shared stride while dating at college. That uniform gait breezed us effortlessly past other sidewalkers to graduation and marriage. In unison we strode our way through unfamiliar terrain illuminated by faith in One who prescribes our steps. Came work. Came babies. Came Joys. Came hardships. Mutual trust was fundamental to our ongoing unified pace. Not easy for her to walk with a flawed partner for whom perfection was imperative. Not easy for me to recognize the defects in my own march. I didn't see. Not then. I didn't see that she walked to my beat. Always. I didn't see. She was entitled to tramp her own trail. So gifted she was that her own walk could have taken her farther. I didn't see. A trail not separate from but conjoint with mine. That even so we could have trekked together. She was patient. I didn't see and my culture didn't teach me. Exceedingly patient, she. Along our dual journey it was I who received an honour here, a recognition there. And she was always glad for me. Yet she should have been applauded. She deserves such celebration still. Wondrous person, she, I have sensed for a long time, that though we walk together, it is she who sets the pace. Challenges appear as time goes on and while our pace slows down, we each are content in knowing that we are walking each other home.    

© Ron Unruh, January 2019

Wisdom - I've Got It

A NEW LEARNING
When I was a teenager, middle aged relatives asked me what I wanted to be or do as an adult and I told them I wanted to be 50 years old. What was I thinking? As I recall I had in mind skipping right past the disturbing teens and catapulting to that time when life is established and determined and one has accumulated wisdom. Wisdom informs me now that all my teen and young adult years were of value in shaping and equipping me for this person that I am today. I wish the years had done a little better job but I am grateful that I couldn’t evade them. Further, I have discovered that wisdom is not necessarily coupled to chronological age, specifically additional years. I have met, I have even experienced foolish people, several decades old. I myself have been on occasion a foolish man. On the other side I know that children are often wise yet cited examples are frequently comedic. Children know that no matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats. You can’t trust dogs to watch your food. When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don’t let her brush your hair.

And wisdom is not equivalent with factual knowledge or intelligence quotient. One can be a five time Jeopardy champion and not be wise. One can win at Trivial Pursuit yet be thick as a brick. It’s not enough to be smart. Acquired knowledge is not synonymous with practical application. We have technological tools and an overload of information which is of little value if it doesn’t augment our core values. Wisdom implies a mature integration of appropriate knowledge, a seasoned ability to filter the inessential from the essential.

The result of this filtering proficiency is the wisdom of seniors reflected here. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart. Some day's you're the dog, and some day's you're the hydrant. If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

George Burns who died at age 100 said “Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.”

A few more wisdom notes now that I am over the hill. There are perks to being here. Kidnappers are not very interested in me. In a hostage situation I am likely to be released first. I have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it. My investment in health insurance is paying off. My secrets are safe with my friends because they can't remember them either.