Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream. —Khalil Gibran
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Many things about old age are not pleasant, I tell my young friend. Shall I count the ways?
Please don’t!
Okay. What if I recount one of the many PLEASANT things about old age.
MANY?!
Good point. What if I recount one of the FEW pleasant things about old age?
Make it quick. I don’t have all day and for sure you don’t!
Ha ha.
Go ahead. Tell me one pleasant thing about old age.
Strollin’ down memory lane with old friends.
When you’re young, your memory lane is a cul de sac. When you’re old, it’s a long and winding road, over hill and dale, through forests and swamps, sunshine and rain. It rolls past lovers and friends, places and things, all changed, but none forgotten.
Must be sad to go back to what was but no longer is.
It is. But it’s a sweet sadness. And it’s a lot less sad with friends along.
I suppose what you alone can’t remember completely a companion might round out?
Exactly! Memories are like jigsaw puzzles. We each hold certain pieces of the memory. So when we manage to complete the picture, we toast ourselves.
Victory!
What happens if someone loses all their pieces?
That’s devastating.
I went to see a dear friend recently. Many times over the past 25 years, he and I strolled down memory lane, stopping to reminisce over one thing after another, piecing memories together. This time was different.
How?
He wasn’t there. Alzheimer’s had claimed him. We talked. But I was a complete stranger to him. His body was there, but he wasn’t.
Wait! Are you saying the body can outlast the person?
Something like that. In my life, I’ve had many friends. Some are dead and some are living and some now linger in a land beyond knowing.
Do you think your friend is happy?
I like to think so. I like to think he reclines in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, with cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over his head, where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies and everyone smiles as he drifts past the flowers that grow so incredibly high.
How cool is that?! Your friend merrily trippin’ down memory lane with kaleidoscope eyes.
I don’t know whether he is or not. I just hope that he’s happy and never feels alone.
