We laughed, sang and danced in our eternal yesterdays. We dreamed great dreams and we lived them. We savored the splendor, glory and magic of our youth.
Those long, happy, wonderful days and those never ending party nights, can’t you just see and still feel them? They are there. Yes, right there. Don’t let them slip away.
The ever changing colorful beauty of the sky, the rolling sea and vast green landscape; those memories are there. The thrill and excitement of romance is also. The rapid beating of your heart and the tingling of your skin heightening at the sight of her smiling face.
That deep love and magnetic affection can not be forgotten. The sharing of hopes, dreams and endless love, these moments can never fade into oblivion.
They say yesterday is history and that tomorrow is still a mystery. They say we are stuck here and now and all we have is the present.
But I don’t believe it!
We have our past, our accomplishments and our triumphs. They are real. We helped build the towns, roads, schools and churches. We helped mold the world that was into what it is today. The true love we shared produced new life. Beautiful, bright eyed children grew into this evolving world. They take over and carry on our hope, purpose and ambitions.
Work was hard and life was rough back then. It was a struggle to survive, to persist and succeed. But we did and what a great thrill it was to achieve it all.
We are not inclined to praise ourselves. We don’t speak much of our hard won military accomplishments. We mention forty years on the job as though it was a walk in the park. We rarely bring up our hardships, disappointments or mention friends and family members lost along the way.
We sit in quiet solitude in parks, senior centers and nursing homes. The sands of time have worn down our bodies. Our motion is slow and often labored. But we think of the past and smile to ourselves as our days pass slowly by.
We never thought we would live this long. After all this time, for us to still be here, it’s such a wonder.
We are simply amazed at the advancements of the modern world of today all around us. We treasure each smile and “Hello” from passers by, kids and the wags of puppy dogs tails. All we ask for is a little attention and maybe a word of kindness. We are still very much alive.
We want to live, communicate and be active in this ongoing hustle and bustle of daily life.
But we are isolated, segregated and removed from activity, decision making and responsibility. We are supposed to occupy ourselves with bingo and such and just stay out of the way like background statues.
So we have wrinkled, sagging skin. Our physical attraction has diminished. We are no longer young and beautiful. Our once abundant beauty and our dashing figures have somehow ebbed into that of slow motion grandparents.
Antique humans, you could call us. We are survivors from the last century, patients for doctors, nurses and caregivers, a burden to the Social Security system, state pension funds and the VA. But we are a great joy to so many grandkids.
We have tremendous knowledge, experience and insight to the how and wherefore of the world around us. Sadly, it’s all going to waste, now that old is out and young is in.
What thoughts would we like to pass along, you may ask? Well just simple stuff like the rewards of hard work, honor, respect, family, fun and joy. Most of all, I would say, love.
But all in all, it’s been a gas, because really and truly, we’ve known the days.
Dan can be reached at danhughoconnor@gmail.com.
