Someday I’ll understand that…

My brother-in-law, Lee, emailed me a link to an Alan Jackson music video last night.  Usually, I don’t spend much time on that type of thing, but Lee doesn’t send me many emails and the tag line of this one said ‘5 Stars’. 

The song title, The Older I Get, wasn’t familiar. I double checked the playlist on my mental jukebox and still no luck.  Fortunately, this one was captioned. I read through the lyrics and immediately wished that I had been familiar with the tune.  I looked up the release date for this song and realized that it was released after I became deaf.  Oh well, back to the lyrics…

The older I get
The longer I pray
I don’t know why, I guess that I
Got more to say

Well, ain’t that the truth?

I had a particularly bad week last week.  No negative diagnosis or anything significant, just a rough week that I suspect all of us have from time to time when things just do not go your way.  Too many negative thoughts…

But I woke a little early this morning and found the email from Lee.  With the lyrics to the tuneless Alan Jackson song stuck in my memory, I showered, dressed, and headed off to church.  On the way, I passed a neighbor’s house where a couple of twin toddlers live.  From time to time, I will see the two boys out in the yard taking some unsure steps.  This morning, I discovered that the boys have an older sister.  Both boys were in side-by-side swings and their sister (maybe six years old) was alternately pushing one and then stepping to the side and pushing the other.  Both boys were in swing elation and the big sister appeared to be having more fun than the twins.  So, with a smile on my heart, I headed to church as some of that negativity slipped away.

I arrived early, claimed my spot on my silent pew and let the sunshine filtering through the stained-glass windows of the chapel color my world.  The sermon was delivered with warmth and humor.  I took a moment to watch the faces of my friends that have only recently returned to the chapel on Sunday mornings.  Faces filled with happiness and laughter surrounded me.  And some of that sadness from last week was lost in their laughter.

Life of course, keeps coming at you.  After church, I headed home for lunch.  Soon after arriving home, the power went out.  We reported the outage and received a notice that power would likely be restored in an hour or so.  Within a few minutes, the outage estimate was extended to two and a half hours.  Followed soon after by yet another update extending the outage to approximately eleven hours.  I gave up on lunch and grumpily headed out to a jobsite to check on progress on an ongoing job.

On the way, I passed a house with yard signs that indicated that Collin was having a sixth birthday.  A giant jump house was in temporary residence in the front yard.  From all visible signs, Collin and his friends were not at all upset about the power outage.  Sheer joy was reported on the faces of Collin and his friends.  And a little more of last weeks troubles faded with each of Collin’s bounces.

The job seemed to be going well.  I did a little work to prepare for the coming week, straightened the disheveled, cleaned up a few issues, and pleased with the progress, I headed to my truck to meet my wife, sister-in law, and brother-in-law, Lee for dinner.  Have I mentioned that life just keeps coming at you?  Dead battery…

I called Lee but he was already across town at the restaurant.  So, I called my friend Mark who lives close.  He was not at home but was understanding of the situation.  “Give me just a few”, he said, “I’ll round up some jumper cables and head your way.”  And thankfully, within just a few minutes, my truck was jump started, Mark was off to finish his errands, and I made it to dinner in time to tell Lee how much I enjoyed reading the lyrics to The Older I Get.  And thankful thoughts of friends that will interrupt their busy day to help a deaf guy in need pushed last week’s issues out of sight.

Tonight, the problems of the last week just don’t seem as troublesome as they did then.  After all, I can enjoy;

watching a big sister push twin toddlers longer than they could swing,

the laughter and happy smiles of my friends at church warming my heart,

the joyous calls of six-year-old Collin and his friends flowing through the neighborhood,

and the knowledge that I have a friend that I can depend on in times of need to come to my rescue (even when it interrupts his schedule).

Thankful is the word that comes to mind and leads us on to that last line from Alan Jackson’s The Older I Get…

And the older I get
The more thankful I feel
For the life I’ve had,
And all the life I’m living still.

Thanks for listening!

Your friend,
KBM
kevin@mysilentpew.com