It was like putting your ear to a large Sea Shell and hearing the sound of the Sea far away. It was like being there again on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. It was like sleeping those beautiful nights on Cavendish Beach in Prince Edward Island. It was like the Camp Ground near the Cabot Trail, in Nova Scotia. It was like being there again 42 years ago…It was wonderful.
However it all took place in Peterborough, Ontario at 925 Western Ave. – last night in our backyard.
I was able to get Bruce’s tent and two sleeping bags. Then with much less effort than the original tent needed 42 years ago – it popped into place near our large deck in the backyard.
At 11 PM we crawled into the warm and snuggly sleeping bags.
The cool air was coming in slowly and the sleeping bags did the trick – of talk about warm – all through the night…. Right through 45 degree F – 7 degree C night.
I am 65 years old now and it is not something a grown man should do… specially a Grandpa… no less the Grandma that sleeps with me. We should be RVing with People our own age… or in a Luxury Hotel with people on the Las Vegas strip not far away. We should not get down into a small tent in our backyard and giggle.
Well we are both young at heart and still loving what we do together. We can still do the things we always loved to do when we were younger – much younger.
We can take long walks. We can ride our bicycles all over the city. We can picnic. We can laugh and we can love. We are still Alida and Murray… and will enjoy what we have to do together… until we can’t anymore.
Why bother!?
A time is coming for both of us – when one of us will not be able to do what we do now. It is a simple reality. At 65 years old every single year – every single month and even every single day is priceless. This is the quality time we have been working for all these years. These are the moments that we need to be with each other even more.
Over these years of being a minister I have watched so many regrets. People that have said to me so many times… “If only we had taken time… if only.”
I want to end what I am doing by saying, “I am so happy that we did camp in our backyard… do you remember when that crazy mosquito followed us into the tent? That was so much fun.”
This past few days when we walked through the Sunny Brook hospital to visit our friend Terry… I glanced into the different rooms as we passed by. The beds were filled with people that cannot sleep in a tent any more. Many will not be able to stoop down through the low opening. Many can only now dream of what they used to do so long, long ago. And many are younger than I am.
The fact that we seem to lose what we once had is enough to try to maintain what we can do now… and maybe try something that we used to do. That is where the giggle is in our lives. How about yours?
However I can see and hear a couple reading this together… and he or she is saying to their partner… “Don’t you get any ideas! We are not trying that!”
Sorry to cause a problem for you as a couple… but maybe some of the spark could come alive again… if you just thought a little younger sometimes.
Okay – go simpler than a camp out in your backyard… When was the last time you held hands and walked slow through the park together?
Over these years I have watched the spark die in many couples… at the age of 35 and 45 and 55…. By 65 it is colder than an old lava flow…
Why write about it?
Well one day… six Grandkids will stand as a testimony to what Grandpa was like to them. And above all I want them to remember one old guy that was not old at heart… but really young at heart – right to his last breath.
Gotta run… I have breakfast to prepare for my bride. She is still in her sleeping bag as I type these words out for you. Sleeping outside makes her hungry. It did that 42 years ago… and she hasn’t changed on bit!!!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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