Discoveries

“Murray I need another book.” Mom was standing at the garage door with her cane and making her request. I grinned and went to the box that we have filled with books – recently shared with us from a friend. Mom retrieved two more novels and handed me the last two she just finished.

Mom loves to read. At 87 she is still devouring books at a rate of two per week – maybe even three. She knows her authors and likes one better than another. Mysteries are not her favorites but romance is likely number one.

The shared box of books is filled with beautiful stories from various authors and places in the world. Though I haven’t yet had a chance to read one of the books – I have snooped. They are well written.

Add to her reading she loves to be active. Walking is her favorite things to do. Her pedometer in place when she takes off will record fairly actively her steps to the mall and back. With her walker she has maintained her freedom and has actively sought out new areas of our community. It is cool to see your mom so out there… and with it.

The night’s news is a catch up time for her. She knows what happens in most area of our country and it bugs her when they won’t tell her enough news about western Canada (we live in the east). A quick call to friends in Saskatchewan will retrieve the latest rain fall, storm report or hot sunshine records. She is with it most of the time… more than me.

What has kept my mom so alive and so with it is her attitude to discover something new. A willingness to see some different country and move out to meet new people has always been her style. Today she is excited about going to church with us to Port Hope – some place new.

Now in comparison to other ladies her age who are well into their latter years of memory loss and major physical loss – mom isn’t there.

But there is some loss with memory. My guess is that it is due to boredom and being locked into the regular routine where days blend together and make no sense. I can understand that one better in that my last weeks.

If you think that this is an analysis of my mom – it isn’t. It is admiration and a challenge to take a look at myself and my own ways.

In the past couple days I have had men that are near my age stop by my garage to see how I was doing and get me to help them. These are men that I have helped over these past few years. A number of them have worked at the G.E. Factory in town and then either retired early or worked until the full term of 65 years old.

I point to four of these G.E. guys with this reference to health and vitality. Each one needs help from me with one of our mutual hobbies – TV. Each of the four has fairly severe memory loss that is advancing with their age. Memory loss is an issue. That is why they come for help.

As I have quizzed them as to what they do with their spare time the answer is similar. They don’t read much – never have. They exercise little. One joked that his remote is his exercise – he picks it up pushes buttons. The most exercise he gets is when the Remote is lost and he has to get up to find it – walking around the couch or his easy chair. One time he had to turn the easy chair over to find the remote – that wasn’t easy.

Of the four, one is active with his tennis and regularly works out. He is the oldest and is in the best shape. The memory issues are slight compared to his friends – most is because he cannot operate a computer – starting that at 77 is too late. He knows it and asks for help.

I believe there may well be a fountain of youth – or a place that will keep you younger than your friends. Where is it? Well you have to get up and get out to find it… the walk to find it will keep you younger. The dream and the active thoughts and the book that you read about it may well help you achieve it.

New discoveries and a desire to find more about them will be the secret.

Again I go back to the Bible with my post today. The Bible for me has all the answers and hints that I need to cope in my world.

Walking with Moses again this week (he is one of my heroes if you haven’t guessed already) I watched his pattern.

Long walks and even a run from a comfortable palace – without the easy chair that he had known for a long time – was his beginning point. That walk took him way out to a country that was one where you had to walk a lot.

He chose a job or had one chosen for him that required him to walk a lot. He became a shepherd.

Shepherding is only done one way in his day – you walked with the sheep from one green area to another. The sheep ate all the grass in one are and then needed to go to another area. Sheep also thrive better in hilly – up and down areas meaning the shepherd was required to do a good amount of exercise of hill climbing. And sheep get lost – so you do extra walking to find them if you are a good shepherd. Finally you ate a little less and perhaps more wisely as you herded sheep – you had to carry your lunch so it needed to be light. And you can’t eat the sheep – they were the profit.

Shepherding as an occupation was healthy – more healthy than living a sedate life in a palace.

I am convinced that God knew he needed Moses to stay alive along time when leading the People out of Israel. He also needed him to walk a long ways for a long time – so he needed to be in good shape. What better preparation than to walk for 40 years before walking for another 40 for the final destination.

When I read of his final days it is amazing. His eye sight had not dimmed nor his foot step faltered. At the end before he dies – HE CLIMBS A MOUNTAIN TO SEE THE PROMISE LAND!

Take a look at all your friends around you and also the ones that is in the mirror this morning. Could they climb a mountain now? How about when they are 120 years old? That is how old Moses was when he did that one last hill.

I know that it is not written and I cannot say for sure… but as he walked that day there was a large grin on his face… “This is just like the early years of shepherding… another hill to climb..” was going through his mind…

I have discovered that staying active and wanting to discover more new places – will make a difference for me.

So…. When my grandkids get a new game for their computers…or for their gaming machines – grandpa tries what they are doing (when they are not there…) and guess what it is JUST PLAIN FUN!

I am not saying that I will live forever. I don’t want that. I will die like the rest – but why not a live a life full of discoveries – and make what I do get for years just a whole lot more fun and alive.

“Mom I need another book. Is this one any good?”

~ Murray Lincoln ~