On Turning 60

How did it happen?

I really don’t feel that old

But the day arrived

I woke with the sun

With my normal aches and pains

Stumbled out of bed

Looked in the mirror

Peered at myself carefully

Do I look sixty?

It’s hard to deny

That I am now a senior

With all the good and bad

I’ll go out Tuesdays

To claim my senior discounts

And admit my age

The bad comes as well

Our nation prefers its youth

Not valuing us

To be unemployed

At age sixty is quite hard:

Discrimination

Wisdom comes with age

I have learned much through my years

Life is our teacher

Adventures still wait

For those open to new things

Seniors included

So I’ll take the hand

Of my age seventy husband

And see what life brings

No More

I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness and there is a knot in my stomach.  Not again.  Twenty little children shot to death in their classrooms along with teachers and their principal.  And this is the second shooting in a week—people were also killed in a shopping mall while doing their Christmas shopping.  My heart goes out to the community of Newtown, Connecticut; they are in my prayers.  I cannot imagine their pain.

This time, however, I have another overwhelming feeling.  It is anger.  All day I have watched as the news about this horrible tragedy unfolded.  I have read blogs and seen people’s comments on Facebook.  I saw that old worn-out statement “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”  One person even suggested that the same thing would have happened if the gunman had a knife or even a piece of glass instead.  Seriously?  The guy had semi-automatic handguns.  Others posted that there was just nothing we can do about these things—there are crazy people in this world.  However, the overwhelming number of comments I read expressed what I am feeling—sadness and even outrage.

It is past time for us to sit down and talk about this.  How dare anybody say that there is nothing we can do to protect our children!  Do these pro-gun citizens feel that their guns are more important than the lives of our children?  This is a moral issue.  How can we stand by and do nothing?  We must look at gun control.  I’m not advocating taking away everybody’s guns.  But what individual needs an automatic weapon?  That’s just crazy.  We need to keep weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill.  And we absolutely must take a good look at how we care for our mentally ill citizens.  Many of them are not getting the medical care they need and their relatives’ hands are tied.  Politics needs to be set aside while our leaders work together for solutions, with input from all of us.  We need to do this now.  No more of this!

We Say Goodbye, Trusting Love

Today we said goodbye to you too soon

We were not ready to let you go

You came to us less than a year ago

And touched our hearts forever

We will miss your wisdom, your playful humor, your kindness

There was such intelligence behind those deep brown eyes

You lived a life of spiritual adventures

While becoming a medical miracle more than once

You met your life’s love and trusted love always

Then modeled it for all your world to see

You reached out in compassion and gave yourself freely

Although your body was often in such pain

Your passion drove our little team along

And now your absence leaves a giant hole

Today I heard you’d said one simply must be willing

So I’ll take your advice and try to carry on

Although you cannot ever be replaced

We’ll gather together and reach out in love

The holes in our hearts will gradually heal

But you will never be forgotten, my friend