“while we still have our health…”

I first noticed when I was a pastor. From the time I entered the ministry until my retirement, the churches I served were filled with older folks. These “older folks” were people in their 70’s, 80’s, and even 90’s. Being part of a church community had been important to people in the generations before mine, and so, as a young pastor, I was often pastor to folks who were 40, 50, and even 60 years older than I was. Even in the years before I retired at 65, many church-going people were of the generation before my generation, The Baby Boomers. Having always identified with being young, even now I think of myself as young, healthy, full of energy.

A look in the mirror should bring that fallacy into focus, I think.

As the pastor to older folks, I was aware of a phrase used often by the people I came to serve – and to love. Before setting off on a vacation that they had dreamed about for years, someone might say, “I want to do this, while I still have my health, ” or, “I’ve wanted to visit my grandparent’s homeland, to go back before I die.”

Now, although I don’t say it out loud, I’m reminded of that simple wisdom as Jeff and I talk about places we’d like to visit, of places we’d like to see again. I, too, want to crowd as many travel adventures into this time in my life, when I can still travel freely, and when I can enjoy the trips we take completely. As I pack now, I count out the pills of the medications I take carefully, and sometimes I remember a time when I could travel without counting out pills beforehand.

As we plan our adventures together, I think: “will I be able to enjoy this trip, a year from now? I hope so”. The idea of a lifetime of years and adventures ahead of me doesn’t exist anymore. With each year, with each day, that lifetime of years and adventures is moving – quickly, quickly – away from me.

Lately, Jeff and I have been making arrangements for a trip together to North of Boston. Since I was in Miss Ross’s English class at Peckham Junior High School in Milwaukee, I’ve wanted to see the places that I read about as I studied for papers I wrote about the lives of great American poets, as I memorized many of their poems.

And as we plan, I think about the many travels that Jeff and I have enjoyed together. Through the years, Jeff has taken on the duty of planning our trips, down to the details. Now, I take on some of the work load. And we often talk about places we’d like to see, countries we’d like to see again, and new places. Each time we talk, I wonder to myself, “will I be able to travel then? That’s a new thought for me, but I expect I’ll not let it go.

I often remember a moment when my dad – I called him FRB – looked at me, a look of sadness or grief in his eyes, and said: “It goes so fast.”