Dear people over 80...

Your life is precious. Every day that you remain with us, we are grateful.

I am lucky to have someone in my life who is 85. He has always tended toward a dark humor, and morbid talk from time to time. I used to brush it off, tell him not to talk that way, especially around the young.
Now I bluntly tell him, “you are CHERISHED.” There is nothing wrong with his hearing, but I speak up a little, to make sure he hears it. “You must stay with us. Please don’t abandon us in the middle of this journey.”

The life he has lived is so unique. The stories he can tell, and the wisdom contained in them, are a valuable source of experiences and insight. “Tell me more.” “Tell me again.”

I want him to live to be 99. Medical issues come and go. When he recovers from one, from near misses and health scares, it is such a happy feeling. “Ten more years,” I give silent prayers to the Great Being, to the Big Heart. Please give us ten more healthy years. Do not abandon us. Stay.

The bookends of life: precious little babies with their blank books of life and a soul’s pen in hand; and the old ones, with their books nearly complete, but full of precious stories, their life’s work.

Dear 80-somethings and 90-somethings, honor all the days of your life, all the way.. The singer sings it softly, “I’m 99 for a moment.” When you can sing those words in your heart, you’ll still be 15, 22, 33, 45, and 67…already possessing the lived life in your written book, a book not quite complete. Use those days to write the finishing touches — decide on the ending, write the acknowledgments, the dedication, the afterword; add details to an illustration, find the right shelf in the library, or give a copy to everyone in your life, before it is over.

This song “100 years” by Five for Fighting always fills my heart so much that tears coming pouring out. Lyrics by John Ondrasik, some of the most profound and poignant words ever sung.