Being Seventy: Nine

This is the last in the reflections on the bits from the book Being Seventy. I have been glad to have had the time to think about each of the bits separately. If you've been reading along and thinking too, thank you.

Page 141 (after attending her 50th reunion): From now on we live sub specie aeternitatis. We have made our contribution, whatever it is;  we are on the threshold of a great change, whatever it may be. Today we live in today’s sunshine, today’s rain, today’s love, today’s service.

The people who lived next-door to me when I was growing up were a childless couple who led a quiet life together. In so  many ways they were chosen family to me. When Joe came into my life, they welcomed him with open arms. More than once he said to me, "I hope we are as fortunate as the Bredbecks, growing old together." I don't know how old Paul was when he died; most likely he had reached ninety. She outlived him by a few years and passed at eighty-nine.

Joe works part-time now and believes he'll be fully retired within this calendar year. On the days I don't go to work, we sit together in our morning room, sipping coffee, reading, writing, playing. I am well, well aware of how fortunate we are.

As I reach the end of these reflections, there are pictures I collected for use as the introductory illustrations for the posts. I found too many! And so I shall just share them here, at the end.