Journal of a Living Lady #42
Nancy White Kelly
Christmas Eve is my birthday. It has been a year and yet it seems like yesterday my sister was decorating the house and going all out to make it my best birthday ever. My mother always did that and now my sister, Sunnie Anne, believes in carrying on the tradition. She and one of my brothers will be coming from Memphis tomorrow night to do my birthday all over again. I think the theme this year will be “Fifty-five and still alive.”
I am grateful for fifty-five years. Though I still feel young, I can now legitimately order off the senior menu at Shoney’s and the IHOP. There are a few restaurants that still hold off discounts until the age of 62 or even 65, but we still benefit as Buddy passed those mileage marks a while back.
Now, when I am forgetful, maybe I can seriously plead a “senior moment.” Either that or old-timer’s disease. I read this week that there are many more mentally ill people than originally thought. In fact, the statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. I thought of my three best friends and they are all okay. Hmm.
Time and tide wait
for no sandcastle, no matter how well it's built. I still have hopes and dreams. If
illness doesn’t take me, old age probably will. I have had a good life in spite
of this metastatic cancer.
I grew up poor in
material things, but rich in the things that mattered. My family has always
loved me and I have loved them. I had excellent teachers and acquired a good
education. The best gift any teacher ever gave me was the ability to read. It
opened the world to this poor little girl who wanted to experience it all. I
have raised worms, spoken at universities, raised rabbits, been on national
T.V., raised Great Danes, been a ventriloquist, raised exotic birds, flown
airplanes, raised kittens, been on the front page of the Wall Street Journal,
and raised guinea pigs. The only thing I haven’t done that I really wanted to
do was sky dive. I had a knee replaced a few years ago and wouldn’t attempt it
now. Someday, when this life is over, I intend to sky rise though.
Birthdays never
bothered me. Age doesn’t matter unless you are cheese. These things I have
learned in five and a half decades. Forget about the past. You can’t change it.
Forget about the future. You can’t predict it. Forget about the present. I
don’t have you one. Merry Christmas anyway. It is the thought that counts.
web: http://angelfire.com/bc/nancykelly
