March 20!

Spring sunrise at the farm

Today is the first day of spring and it is my birthday. According my own long-ago views, I am old! But I don’t feel old, and when I look in the mirror, I don’t see an old lady looking back. “Old” has become so much, well, older than it used to be. 

Twenty years ago, if I had allowed myself to think about it, I probably couldn’t have imagined living to this age. The cancer diagnosis then was followed by another, a dozen years later. Two rounds of cancer, with chemo and surgery and all the rest, shifted my focus from the long view to the here-and-now. I had known in my head that I wouldn’t live forever, but then my heart learned it. It sounds trite, but the lesson of the heart is to make every day count, to do the things that make for peace, to live in love – with those around me, with the world, with God. Some days that is easier to do than other days, but it is always worth trying. 

Spring and a birthday – two good causes for celebrating a new season!