The Ripeness of Age

Age arrives with new experiences
leading to reflection and above all
patience. When accompanying your
wife to her annual heart-check, her
cardiologist remarks on your wearing
toque, gloves and scarf even in his office
so you obligingly inform him you are still
recovering from open-heart surgery and
he understands completely. Finally able
to resume your normal daily woodland
hike, acquaintances welcome you and
ask the inevitable and you acquiesce
in repetitive explanations. When a 
neighbour asks feelingly how you are
you know he cares and you know he
also knows since he has shared that
bypass operation himself. You note
do you not, that your wife no longer
becomes impatient exhibiting exquisite
patience in gratitude that normal life
has resumed and one more nightmare
has been faced in a panoply of health
interruptions on the journey of existence.
This, of course, represents a twin journey
from robust youth to considered agedness
a lifelong endeavour shared with huge
enthusiasm through a married lifetime
together in a tandem of discovery and
fortune's limitless opportunities embraced
and experienced, no rehearsals required.