On Commencing My Fiftieth Year.......

Since I turned 49 on my birthday two weeks ago, I am now on the way to age 50. A half-century old, me?!? Not long ago 50 seemed really old, but not any more! Now it just seems like a number, the next number in the sequence that marks time. Honestly, I don’t feel any different from when I was 35. (Well, maybe my eyesight is not as good—I did just purchase progressive bifocals which, by the way, are THE BEST—and maybe my memory is not quite as sharp—I now have to make lists to keep up with my lists—but really those are not major problems when considering the whole of one’s life.)

However, I am encountering something of a dilemma, for which I need a creative solution. It all started with several friends focusing more time and energy on fitness. When one friend spent her fiftieth year training for and competing in a sprint triathlon—that’s .5 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike and 3.1 mile run, Yikes!—I started to panic. (Although I do walk on the treadmill every day, the other physical activities are just a few steps too far out of my comfort zone. I’m thinking the triathlons, sprint or otherwise, will just have to pass me by.) The questions started: What should I be doing in this year that will celebrate the milestone? What is it I want to accomplish so that I won’t have any regrets in the future? What is the one thing I want to do in my life that if I wait much longer I will not be able to complete it? But really, the most important question is one appropriate for EVERY age: What is God’s purpose for me in this year, and for this next half-century, and for today, and for this moment?

I’m continuing to consider the questions, and I’m open for suggestions………………………………………..

Nathan's Graduation at Lackland Air Force Base

The day after Christmas the 5 of us loaded up to travel to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas — via Flower Mound where we enjoyed the excellent hospitality of Steve and Carolyn Kotyk and family — to see Nathan and to attend his Coin Ceremony and Graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training. We’re so proud of Nathan, and of course he is extremely handsome in his uniform! It’s very impressive to see all the perfect marching, perfect saluting, perfectly worn uniforms, perfectly clean dormitories. I’m sure lots of moms were joining me in thinking, “Wow, who knew?!?”

We learned that the Air Force is very serious about obeying to the letter all traffic rules on the base. In all the excitement of seeing the base and hearing about Nathan’s life over the past six weeks, Willis wasn’t paying much attention to the speed limit signs. Thankfully Nathan was able to get his dad out of a ticket, and we drove 20 mph our remaining time there!

The Riverwalk, the Alamo, bowling, celebrating Nathan’s Christmas, shopping, eating meals together — Nathan’s first real steak in six weeks — were highlights of our 3 days together.

Nathan is now at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for 35 weeks of training in ground radio communications.