My 77th Birthday.

I have arrived at the age of 77 and it hit me,

In three years time you’ll be 80! Wow! Sounds awful!

Then I thought again,

In reality, it is not awful at all - it is an achievement:

I look at the mirror and there are signs of wear, tear, and marks of experience, as well as some extra kilos I can do without. But there are no ailments, no medicine to take; and a blood pressure of 120/80 is nothing to complain about.

I go for walks, body surf and dance –turning and twirling with delight – which is pretty good, and very enjoyable –
I know, I should do more of that…
BUT the computer does not let me, it seems to demand more and more of my time. This is bad, isn’t it?
I hear a voice whisper,

‘Don’t think you are only one who does that,’

Yes. You are right, but that does not change the fact. It only says that you should not do it either, doesn’t it?
It’s true. I should move away from the computer and leave some things for tomorrow…
But… can I? ….

This dialogue is getting me nowhere. I’d better turn my attention to the box I carry on my shoulder,

Well, I decided to keep it. The grey matter within it seems to do a good job, so why change it? As a matter of fact, it seems to be working overtime and is getting better each day.
Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. You know the saying,

‘Use it - or lose it?,’

I decided:

Better to use it, than to lose it.

As a matter of fact, there are many things I can do today I could not do when I was younger. I have the tools years of accumulating knowledge bring. I can weave together, unknowingly, new understandings, plane new ventures and set new goals without the demands of a growing family and job obligations.

I can achieve all I’ve never dreamed of before - I have reached the golden age. I arrived, and plan to stay here for another fifty years or so, to be able to fulfil all I have put in front of me.

Having come to this conclusion, I look back into my past, and think, Lucky you, you have, in spite of all the difficulties, which are really just challenges, chosen the best period in history to come into this world, and to experience life in places and times your ship docked you in.

Why is that?

It’s because I have been lucky, fortunate or whatever you care to call it, to pick out of the barrel parents who taught me how make hard decisions; How to face adversities without running away; and never complain when the going is tough. They did this by example, by their own actions - not by words.
Not only that, but above all,

They gave me a second change at life by choosing to leave Germany the year Hitler came into power.

By doing so they did not only save my life, but they also gave me one full of purpose and aim to aspire to. They brought me into a society bursting with camaraderie that worked very hard to re-establish Jewish life in the Land of Israel; make the desert bloom, and resurrect the State of Israel – a once in many life-times chance not many get.

I also was fortunate to get out of this barrel a wonderful partner: my life long friend, lover, and the father of our children, who is still with me doting over me.
He taught me how to fly an aircraft instead of flying off the handle at every little thing.
He also taught me to put all the cards on the table and discuss matters sensibly, which made our marriage work.
With him, I had the honour of understanding Chiropractic, which changed my health fortune and my way of looking at life and at the universe at large.

And how lucky am I to witness the first Radio that came into our lives, the first phone connected in our area; the first T.V show when many countries did not have it as yet. Fly in propeller driven aircraft, be a part of every development since, and be able to sit here and write to you from afar though the net.

Now, at 77, I do all that I had no time for when I was working and had the family to attend to.

Since retirement, I wrote a book, which I am trying to promote; as well as about 45 to 50 poems; and painted about the same number of paintings, that I have started to put into a gift book of poems, painting and Life (or thoughts – not so sure about which word I should use here – inputs are invited).

I made my own website and blog, where I write as regularly as I can. I learn all I can on subjects I like, socialize regularly, and travel every so often.

At times I am lost not knowing what to do first, as I would like to do it all at the same time. But I know that is not possible.
I find the days not long enough, neither the weeks nor the years, and think that about another fifty years will do it for me.

So, did I choose the right and places I lived? I think I did.

Now, I'd like to wish a

‘ Happy birthday’>
To all who are having their 77th this month.
I do sincerely hope that you are getting frustrated from over doing rather than under doing

Renate
Artist, poet and the author of
From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country
To look inside my book Click here

My generation

I am a member in ‘Stumble-upon’ (a program like ‘My Space’).In it a lady wrote that

” Few people who reach her age (meaning me) have such great spirit & wisdom”

This is flattering, but at the same time, rather unhealthy; It may make my head swell and I may become bigger than my boots. However, what she wrote made me think and analyse:

people my age have accumulated a lot of experience and a lot of wisdom.This is how nature meant it to be. So why is this not the norm? I pondered.

Then I realized, and leaving out all other contributing factures, that even though today’s society has freed us from restrictive ‘excepted behaviour’ on the one hand, it has, on the other hand, thrown us out of the normal cycle of life.

Forced retirement, the disappearance of the traditional 3 level generation family, and the elevation of the young onto a high pedestal they did not earn, made most of us redundant and superfluous; thus bringing debilitating situation to many of my generation

This forced retirement and all that came in its wake has, of course, cost society all that accumulated experience and wisdom to the detriment of all.

Even though many of my generation are in that sad situation, others have taken that new freedom and emersed themselves into activities they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to delve into; and that, in all fields of endeavour: in charity, in public services, in the arts, or in adventures. As for example, an acquaintance of ours who, some years ago and over 80 at the time, still climbed regularly up the tall mast of his very large boat to carry out its maintenance. Not only that, but once his broken leg mended, after falling off that mast at that age, he continued skiing and, continued living on board as nothing has happened.A couple of years or so later, he sold his boat, and – began writing his 4^th book!

Why have some ended one way and others the other? I asked myself.

Why are we where we are today? I asked my husband, and he relied,

‘It’s because we are active’.

His reply was not what I was looking for. I was looking for a primary reason. For the motiving force, or the lack of it. But for him, the conversation added. He gave me his answer.

Now it was up to me to sort it out all on my own.

I think, that what happens to one, comes first and foremost from the core of that individual and from its very personal circumstances and surrounds, so where am I?What is the core that brought me to where I am?

My first conclusion was that life is for living. What I mean to say is that while one is alive, one must live life to the fullest.One must experience everything, or nearly everything; and one must live a long and fruitful life to achieve this. As for me, I think that another 50 to 60 years will be sufficient for all I have set up to do, achieve, experience and… and… and…

And of course there are always new things coming up, which I cannot time, but which I cannot let pass me by either, like for example – SU…

So what is my core being, what makes me what and who I am and what I think?

The conclusion I came to is that I have kept my child like curiosity. That I think - is the REAL key! This is the core of my being and of those like me.

Some may say,

It’s all good and fine for you; you have a child like curiosity, you are well, you are healthy. You had an easy life, you had a privileged one; not everyone is like you…and so on.

So let me put those ones at rest.I did not have an easy life; neither a privileged one, as those of you who read my book, will attest. What I did have, and still do, is the joy in life – the delight in living, and wonder and satisfaction it brings, with all its variations:The good, the difficult and bad - or maybe not the bad:

The good because it’s good;

The difficult for it’s a challenge;

And the bad – for the experience it brings and the opportunity it presents to learn, grow and develop.

Okay, but how do you keep body and mind active to satisfy that curiosity?

I think one achieves this by the attitude one has towards life at large. For example, if I would indulge drinking the wrong drinks, eating the wrong foods, and look at life as a drag – I have no chance of getting anywhere.If I love medicines and do not read the labels in the supermarkets to avoid at least some of the poisons the food industry dishes out for us to eat – I have no hope either.If I give myself a short span of life, and repeatedly say that I will not live longer than a certain age, I will not make it past that date or somewhere around it. Why? Because I will set the way I live in such a way, that it will come to conclusion at around the time I wished it to end.

Renate Artist, poet & the Author of From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country

http://www.promisedland-renate.com/

As a follow-up I’d like to try and tackle, in one of my next posts, the question of marriage and divorce, which has an important bearing on the joy of life. A subject Oprah spoke about with passion a few months back.