I'm not often given to offering unsought advice and even less prone to advising those younger than me ( which is now the majority of humanity). After a working lifetime as a professional educator of students and pupils ranging from 6 to sixty years of age, I reckon I've learned more from them than they have from me. However:-
I've just got back from helping to plant a hedgerow with fellow villagers and found out that two neighbours had lost elderly parents over Christmas. Our Christmas was pretty good with both our sons and daughters in law and our three grandchildren. Our daughter-in-law hosted before going up North to take her share of our grandchilden to visit their other grandmother, a poignant time for her as the other grandfather died two Christmases ago. It turns out that she too is rapidly slowing down and rarely leaves the house due to lack of mobility. The annual crop of Christmas messages also highlighted how many friends and ex-colleagues are no longer with us. .My "weddings and funerals" suit has seen more funerals than weddings for quite a few years now.
So perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that our sons are beginning to enquire more pointedly about our state of health and that our younger son's partner, who happens to be a doctor, has now twice reminded me that, contrary to my own belief, that I am not immortal and muttered darkly as she left that I should be thinking about altering the goal posts. Whatever could she mean, I haven't played rugby for over 50 years?
We've had a good time with many adventures to look back on, but it's getting harder to do the things we used to and Madame has had to give up riding horses, driving at night and scrambling in the mountains because of osteoporosis and incipient cataracts and I've been having a needle shoved in my eye on a regular basis. Those hospital appointments play havoc with one's travel plans.
So here comes the advice:-
Don't delay. Go on that expedition, visit that wilderness, learn that new skill, take the children camping, carry out that conservation project, buy that van and convert it- Do it NOW and post it here with trip reports and plenty of photographs for us older ones to share your experiences and remind ourselves that once we too were once young and had a long future ahead of us. You'll bless me in fifty year's time!
I've just got back from helping to plant a hedgerow with fellow villagers and found out that two neighbours had lost elderly parents over Christmas. Our Christmas was pretty good with both our sons and daughters in law and our three grandchildren. Our daughter-in-law hosted before going up North to take her share of our grandchilden to visit their other grandmother, a poignant time for her as the other grandfather died two Christmases ago. It turns out that she too is rapidly slowing down and rarely leaves the house due to lack of mobility. The annual crop of Christmas messages also highlighted how many friends and ex-colleagues are no longer with us. .My "weddings and funerals" suit has seen more funerals than weddings for quite a few years now.
So perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that our sons are beginning to enquire more pointedly about our state of health and that our younger son's partner, who happens to be a doctor, has now twice reminded me that, contrary to my own belief, that I am not immortal and muttered darkly as she left that I should be thinking about altering the goal posts. Whatever could she mean, I haven't played rugby for over 50 years?
We've had a good time with many adventures to look back on, but it's getting harder to do the things we used to and Madame has had to give up riding horses, driving at night and scrambling in the mountains because of osteoporosis and incipient cataracts and I've been having a needle shoved in my eye on a regular basis. Those hospital appointments play havoc with one's travel plans.
So here comes the advice:-
Don't delay. Go on that expedition, visit that wilderness, learn that new skill, take the children camping, carry out that conservation project, buy that van and convert it- Do it NOW and post it here with trip reports and plenty of photographs for us older ones to share your experiences and remind ourselves that once we too were once young and had a long future ahead of us. You'll bless me in fifty year's time!
