As a young boy and then a young adult, I watched old men (regardless of how you define that) unable to any longer do the physical things that were so easy for me.
I remember once in the Kennedy days when the push was all about getting and staying fit, I stood in the kitchen of my parents in law’s home and did that really dangerous trick of jumping into the air, holding my arms out to my sides and then kicking up my legs and touching my fingers with my toes. I could only do it once, but that didn’t matter. No one else in the whole house would even try it.
As I moved through life, I didn’t so much disrespect older folk who couldn’t keep up; I just quit including them in plans.
I wonder how I’m going to feel when my grandsons are old enough to treat me that way. I certainly don’t expect them to do otherwise, but I imagine I’m going to feel unwanted or like a “fifth wheel.” I don’t look forward to that but I do understand it.
I read a short piece in Guideposts written by Debbie Macomber about how her sons learned that the most valuable Christmas gift they could give their grandparents was just their time. Grandma doesn’t need a wrapped token under the Christmas tree, but she sure needs to know her grandchildren treasure her regardless of whether she can stay with them as they climb up into the fort in the backyard.
Maybe it starts the other way around. The grandboys do need toys under the tree, but they more need to know that I have time for them whenever they want it from me.
Don’t we all need that? Don’t I need your time and you need mine? Isn’t that what honoring each other is all about? Isn’t that what fosters love and relationship between people?
