Milestones

Summer is sliding by quickly. I have been pondering on topics worthy of posting, have had some partial thoughts, but, as is evident, have had nothing that I actually put on this spot.  So, with that in mind, I will share a few of these partial thoughts.  Is that what comes from being a half-wit?

A long, long time ago, in a temple not too far away, my Vickie and I were married.  Forty years ago.  Now, that may seem like a long time to you youngsters (and to Vickie as well, I am sure), but it is not so long in the eternal perspective of things.  In fact, we are looking forward to an eternity together.  So forty years is nothing.  But it sure has seemed like something!

My older brother, Randy turned 65 this week.  It is hard for me to think that I have a sibling old enough for Medicare!  I went up to his birthday celebration and spent a good deal of it visiting with my cousin and her husband.  Her mother, my aunt Mary, will turn 101 next month.

Vickie, earlier this year, got a notice and catalog in the mail from her work.  She has now worked for the same health care company for 40 years!  And she hasn't been fired even once!  I think she needs to retire.  Her pension now would pay her most of what she is making.  She would not have to work on a crazy labor and delivery floor several midnight shifts each week.  But, she says she needs to work for a couple more years.  I can't talk sense into her.  You give it a try.  A selfish note-she has been working 3 years longer than I have, so I have to work 3 years beyond her retirement.  And I am getting older and more tired some days.  Encourage her to give me a break by stopping soon.

One more-earlier this year-I think it was in early spring-I was out for my morning bike ride and noticed that my bike computer was going berserk.  I watched as it cycled through several screens, including one that looked like a birthday cake (it was not my birthday), screaming to get my attention.  My first thought was that it was time to get a new cycle computer, as this one was obviously dying a silly death.  Then I looked closer at the small screen.  It was celebrating the fact that I had logged 25000 miles on the computer.

OK-something that may not seem to be related at all (imagine that on this site...)

I was working on trimming and chipping dead wood out of the locust tree by the driveway a couple of weeks ago.  The little girl next door was out visiting as I was working, as is her habit.  She had a little shovel and decided she was going to work also.  So she started digging a hole in her flower bed.  I'm not sure if she intended to plant anything or was just digging for the fun of it.  As I turned off the (very loud) chipper, she asked "neighbor, how long have I been working?".  She always calls me neighbor.  I'm not sure if I should tell her to call me "Rick" or "Mr. Edge" (nope on that one) or ...  I think "neighbor" is just fine.  Kind of neighborly actually.  Anyway, I told her that she had been working for about a minute and a half.  She stopped, wiped the sweat from her brow and thought for a moment.  Then she said "that must be a very long time, because I am really tired!"

As I look at some of these "milestones"-40 years of marriage, living to be old enough for Medicare, or living to be 101, pedaling a bike for a few miles, working at the same place for 40 years-I start to think about enduring.  More than that, I think about enduring well.  I know I have had times in life when I felt like I had been  working for "a very long time, because I am really tired!".  From an eternal perspective, we haven't-any of us-been toiling beyond our ability to endure.  The minute-and-half tasks may well seem like a "very long time", but we can get through them.  And we can learn, grow, and find joy in the enduring.  And that is a topic for another day.  Maybe I can remember a story to tell with it.

Final thought-I was not able to come up with the right token gift for my sweetie for our 40th.  But, I am still working on it.  I figure if I find just the right thing by her birthday in late November, it will work for both.  Wish me success.  I know she already has everything she wants (mainly me) and she is not into material things.  Maybe the perfect dog-a "Scooter" with less prey drive.  We'll see.  Let me know if any of you have wonderful ideas.