The Other Side of Middle Age


It was a coincidence bordering on grace.

I came across this blog post and the photograph to the left on the same day.

Please read the blog post.

Himself and I will be seventy on our next birthday. Seventy. Married forty-seven years already and talking about fifty coming up in just the blink of an eye. If we are lucky.

"Grow old with me; the best is yet to be." A lovely, sentimental thought. Brings to mind those twin bathtubs on the beach in the Cialis commercial.

One of my Circle sisters has passed away. Three are widows. Among the Good Guys, two have lost husbands and one seems mighty frail.

Yesterday I heard from a long-time friend that her husband will be undergoing extensive surgery in the coming week, surgery for a cancer that would scare the bejesus out of me. My good neighbor has come out of the hospital after a life-threatening bout of acute congestive heart failure; she has graduated this week from physical therapy, but I wonder what the ongoing strain of caring for her at-least-91-year-old husband will do.

If you google "elderly couple embracing" and click on images, you'll see a whole slew of photos of people who are thinking about getting into their twin bathtubs. Every hair is in place. They smile broadly. There are no wrinkles. No horrid age spots.

I look at him and am reminded of the "widow maker" heart attack of six years ago. I'm well aware of the ongoing visits to the dermatologist who deals with the skin cancers -- two of the three kinds -- that are running rampant.

We're on the other side of middle age.

Comments

Mrs. Goodneedle said…
Excellent post, yours and the linked one; thank you for your writing this today... I am grateful.
Quiltdivajulie said…
Once again, what you share here has touched me deeply . . .
Barbara Anne said…
I, too, have heard that poem, by Robert Browning if memory serves.

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made."

Lovely posts, lovely photo.

Thank you!
Liz said…
oh, this could not have come at a better time - your post and the link as well. Its good to be reminded of how abundant my own life is, and what joys still lie ahead. Thank you for sharing !!
Sandra said…
Thank you, Nancy, for this post. I spend a great deal of time thinking about what it really means to be "on the other side of middle age." I am grateful each day that DH and I are healthy.
Anonymous said…
I did NOT marry young. I will NOT have as many years as you have had with your love of your life. EVERY DAY I am thankful to have another day, no matter how many days more I may have. Late is better than never.
Patty Nordahl said…
You have once again touched a very part of me. I am grateful for our health and time together )48 yrs and counting) and yes 70 next birthday. I am also grateful for having found people, like yourself, who touch my heart with your thoughts.
Unknown said…
Nancy - have missed reading yours and lots of other people's blogs over the summer so have just caught up with this today - we lost my mother in law two weeks ago aged 78 and my 80 year old father in law is totally lost without his soulmate - however they did manage 56 years of marriage and she passed three days after the 60th anniversary of their meeting - it made my lovely husband and I realise that life is too short even if you're lucky enough reach your 80th birthday and we should not only grasp everything life has to offer us with both hands but also make time to do that together even in the smallest ways - he works away through the week as that is the only work that is available to him so we have vowed to make sure we make the most of our weekends together as they are all the more precious - I know what the blogger you linked to meant about youngsters getting married not having any idea about 'in sickness and n health' etc - but for us all those trials have made our relationship all the stronger and brought us even closer together and I feel so blessed that this is so - thanks for writing this post - it really struck a nerve with me