lessons from our seniors

when i use the pool at the Y usually i am sharing the lanes with older women hoping to ease their joints by participating in classes like aqua jogging. these women are all full-bodied as is the case with a lot of southern women over 70. they still manage to squeeze into a bathing suit and enjoy themselves, making friends and comparing complaints. closer to lunch hour, some younger women come to swim and they are so self-conscious about their bodies, shyly slipping out of the cover-ups and hurriedly diving into the water. some women even wear their board shorts and tank tops in the pool so that their bikini-ed bodies are never exposed to the critical eye. they are around 20 years old or so and they still glow with youth. they have stunningly beautiful bodies but they can't see themselves from an objective perspective. they worry that they are too fat or flabby while the older women with their wide backs and hips laugh and waltz through the water like whales.
*****
i spoke with a man today who turned 80 yesterday and was dazzled by nico and by life. he said, "you know, i can never get over it. i wake up each morning overwhelmed by the miracle of birth, the miracle of life. i can build houses, huge buildings but nothing compares to the spark that builds humans, seeds of love. we take it for granted, we throw it away but nothing is more precious than that baby you are holding. you must be amazed everyday. you are so lucky"
*****
nico is 3 months today.


time......

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT, KAT-KAT, KATHY, KATIE, KMA-K, COACH KAT, MS. KATHARINE. JUST THINK IN 15 YEARS YOU WILL HAVE THE COOLEST BIRTHDAY DATE. MAY YOUR YEAR BE FULL OF LOVELINESS AND WONDERFUL SURPRISES. XOXO