The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, and I were just finishing our supper the other evening when she looked at me and said, “Do you know what we’ll be celebrating next week?”
Rubbing my chin, I said, “Well, we just celebrated the 4th of July a week ago, so I’m not sure what that next holiday is.”
“Oh, you know,” she said, laughing at me. “Just think for a while and maybe you’ll come up with the right idea.”
At my age, it’s tough to think, even for a while. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just inserted, “Is it one of the grandchildren’s birthday?”
“No, no,” she said, laughing. “None of our children or grandchildren are having birthdays rather, it is someone sitting here at our table.”
“Oh,” I said, “so you’re having a birthday next week. How old are you going to be?”
“You’re right about that,” she said, “but somebody else is having a birthday next week. You have any idea who that might be?”
I thought for a moment, and it finally hit me. “Do you mean I’m going to have a birthday next week?”
I looked at her and said, “But how is that possible? I just had a birthday not long ago.”
“That was 12 months ago now you’re facing another birthday.” She looked at me and laughed.
I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact I was having another birthday. Why is it birthdays come so fast the older you get?
I married Martha for many reasons. Among them was her birthday being two days after mine. That let me to keep up with my birthday.
One thing I’ve learned in my marriage is that women, especially wives, remember birthdays. She knows every birthday of every person on her side of the family, as well as all of our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. I don’t know how she can remember all those birthdays, but she does, and that’s a good thing.
With another candle on my birthday cake, I now celebrate the fact that I’m older today than yesterday. That has some benefits associated with it. I just can’t think of any.
The best thing about my birthday being two days ahead of hers is that once my birthday is celebrated, I can then go out the next day and get a birthday card and present for her. If it were the other way around, she’d never get a present or card on time from me.
Getting old is a blessing in many ways. One of the blessings is memory failure. There are some things that I don’t want to remember, and at my age, I’m not able to.
At my age, I’ve discovered that the only important thing is today. Not yesterday or tomorrow, but today.
I was reminded of this in one of my favorite Bible verses.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
— Psalm 118: 24
I can’t change yesterday or predict tomorrow, but I can rejoice in today.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected].
