Seventy-nine

What is it like to turn seventy-nine years old? I do not know for sure, because I am not there yet, but here are few things I observed this month when my siblings and I gathered from around the country to celebrate my dad’s seventy-ninth birthday.

Me and my Dad

1. You are a little more tired.  Every day, my dad “reads” the newspaper while lying on the couch. He often reads it for an entire half an hour with his eyes completely closed, snoring softly. Resting is important, and when you are older, you allow yourself that luxury.

2. But you still want adventures: My dad announced on his birthday that he wants all of us – his kids and their spouses, to take a trip to Alaska next year. There are always new horizons to explore, if perhaps a little more slowly than before.

My Dad and my sister

3. You continue to like the same things you liked when you were younger. My Dad has always loved cars. My mother tells the story of when she was in the hospital to deliver me, my father stepped out for a bit to attend a classic car show. (This is before fathers were required to help their wives breath during labor.) I remember being the only kid in the neighborhood who drove around in a big, black 1930’s Packard because my dad loved restoring old cars, and he will still discuss cars with anyone who will listen.

My Dad and my brother

4. Childhood memories are important. My father had a ceramic farmer doll dressed in overalls when he was a very little boy. My grandmother, before she died, restored the doll and then gave it to me. I had the doll for years, but this year it occurred to me that perhaps my father would like to have it again.  I carefully wrapped it in layers of tissue paper, and when my dad opened the package, tears streamed down his cheeks as memories from his happy childhood were relived.

5. You never cease to enjoy the company of family, no matter what your age. There is no one else who remembers singing those silly songs on a family vacation to Montana back in the 70’s. Only family know how irritating you can be, but loves you all the same. Whether you are nine or seventy-nine, there is joy in being a family.

Beginning Again

Oliver

Reminiscing on past events while going through one’s previous blog posts is a pleasant way to spend an evening. I kept a regular blog for five years and marvel at the number of people who followed along. I am not sure any of you are still out there after this long hiatus, but for those who are, I thought you might enjoy an update.

We left off with the wedding of my eldest daughter and my venture into full time tutoring.  Both of those endeavors have produced great successes, but the best of all has been my transformation into someone I had never been before – a grandmother. 

My daughter carrying her son
like I used to carry her.

Wee Oliver is sixteen months old now. There is a joy in being a grandparent that is like none other – you get to have all of the fun and none of the responsibility! Watching a grandchild laugh and grow is delightful, but watching your own child parent her young toddler really stirs the heart.

My friend and fellow grandmother, Dede, said it best:

New Parents!

“When you become a parent, you get to relive your childhood. When you become a grandparent, by watching your own child parent, you get to relive being new parent all over again.”

Grandmothers get to play
at children's museums again!

My mind has been flooded with recollections of those past years of being a new parent – wonderful memories I have not visited in a long, long time. As a grandmother, I am enjoying the present delights of my grandson as well as the happy memories of his mother when she was his age, too.

Isn’t it interesting? In a way, each new generation allows the older generations to begin again.

Bearing Fruit

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”-  John 12:24

As a homeschooling mother of three, most of my energy over the past twenty-five years has been focused on the health and education of my family. I so enjoyed those years, and at times, I wished that my homeschooling world with three young children would go on forever. But, with the marriage of my eldest daughter last month, the “Newby Family of Five” is no more. Yet, instead of being sad at the lost, I am excited and delighted to see the new life that has sprung up in its place. There is a new family now, made up of a wonderful young man and my beautiful daughter, who will in many ways over the years, bear much fruit.

Because some old things must go to make room for the new, this will be my last regular post on my blog. Now, instead of homeschooling just three children, my tutoring “family” has grown to fifteen students from around the county who come to my home regularly to be taught and mentored. I need to focus more time on them, and I want to run with endurance the race that God has marked out for me so that I have a life that bears much fruit.

With heart-felt appreciation for those of you who have read my blog,

Debra Newby