Getting Old

I heard this poem this morning and thought the line about the foundation sure fits me right now. Something is messed up in my lower back and I'm creeping around with the help of a cane. I don't expect it to be permanent but it's making me look like an old woman. 

Getting Old

You tell me I am getting old, 

I tell you, that's not so.

The "house" I live in is worn out, 

And that, of course, I know. 

It's been in use a long, long while, 

It's weathered many a gale; 

I'm really not surprised you think, 

It's getting somewhat frail.

The color's changing on the roof, 

The window’s getting dim, 

The wall’s a bit transparent, 

And looking rather thin. 

The foundation's not so steady, 

As once it used to be; 

My "house" is getting shaky, 

But my "house" – it isn't me.

My few short years can't make me old, 

I feel I'm in my youth;

Eternity lies just ahead, 

A life of joy and truth. 

You only see the outside, 

Which is all that most folks see.

You tell me that I am getting old? 

You've mixed my "house" with me!

by Dora Johnson

Yard Sale

There was a historic event on Saturday when I made a special trip for a yard sale. My children wore out my high chair and the grandchildren wore out the used one I bought to replace it. Now we have a great-grandchild and it was time for another highchair. Not more than a high chair gets used in this house, another used one will do the job. I saw a yard sale advertised that had baby furniture so I went to look. I found one for three dollars that will do and brought it home. We're ready for the next time the great-grandbaby comes.

When I said I was going, Leroy said he can't believe I'm driving out of my way for a yard sale. I've been to a few in my life but gave up on it because I could never find what I was looking for and was tempted to pick up things I don't need. (It's not a bargain at any price if you don't need it.) I'm the kind of shopper that goes after what I need and then I'm done. I don't have the patience to spend a lot of time window shopping or running to yard sales for nothing. Leroy always said the way I go yard saleing is to go sailing by. I just never got into it.

The majority of the things at the yard sale was clothing, especially children's clothing. I was amazed at the amount of good outgrown clothing people had to sell. Children must have more clothes today than our children had. As fast as they grow, I can't understand why children need piles of clothes.

There were no yard sales when our oldest children were young. Once or twice a year I would go to an outgrown shop in the city of Reading. That's all that was available. Our children wore hand-me-downs from their siblings and cousins. The boys had one set of Sunday clothes and enough weekday clothes to last from one wash day to the next. By the time the younger ones were growing up there were more outgrown shops where we could buy used clothing, but after the boys were eight or ten years old it was hard to find good pants that fit.

I bought the boys each a set of new jeans at the beginning of the school year and that had to last until the next year. The set from the previous year moved down to everyday. They changed into the old ones when they got home from school so the new ones would last for a year. I bought coats big enough so they could be worn several years, and then handed down to the next sibling. One Sunday coat and one school coat was sufficient for winter. 

We had only one daughter and I sewed all her dresses. She also wore hand-me-downs from her cousins and since she had no sisters I passed on her outgrown clothes to others. She didn't have a rack of sweaters and jackets in every color. 

Were our children deprived? Ask them what they think. 

Seasons of Life

We survived another winter and spring is here to stay. Years ago I read in a book that time passed so swiftly the people only counted time by seasons rather than months or weeks. I thought that was strange but now I'm old enough to realize that's about how it is. Spring arrived the end of March but it took another month for the weather to catch up with the calendar. And now we're half way through spring and our calendar for summer is filling up. It will flash by so fast we'll be back to winter before we know what happened.

I think spring is my favorite season. Everything is fresh and new in the spring. It's a season of hope and promise. We plant in hope, not knowing if things will drown or dry up. Baby animals are born or hatched promising another generation will grow up and continue the cycle as long as the earth exists.

We said long ago that our house will fit us as long as we live but the yard and garden work might get to be too much someday. We're starting to see that happen. This spring we were both having trouble with aching hips and legs. For the first time, we considered giving up the garden. But in the end we planted things again. We have both improved some and can probably keep after it but we may resort to a raised bed before too many more years.

We did downsize some this year by pulling out the grapevine. I am tired of messing with grapes and Leroy is tired of mowing around the arbor. I also decided to give up planting a row of Canna tubers along the edge of the garden. They have to be dug out every year and stored in the basement over winter. I'm not going to ask him to do that anymore. I got the Cannas from my mother the last year she lived so I was too sentimental to throw all of them away. I planted just two along the outhouse/toolshed. 

We didn't mulch last year and it really needs to be done this year. Leroy's hip isn't going to like all that shoveling and he said if it's up to him it won't happen. Our boys got their heads together and agreed on a date to do it for us. Just a few years ago we got together every spring to do the yard work for Leroy's parents. Now we're the old people that need help. 

Fifty-two years ago we were in the just-married spring season of life, full of hope and promise. We had a long summer season with the heat and pressure of raising a family. Now we're in the fall season and winter is fast approaching. Time marches steadily on and we must continue to adjust to fit the seasons of life.