One resolution we can follow at any age
- col-leslie-pearce-keating
- January 2, 2024
- 621
I invited a student of mine to help me decorate my 8-foot Christmas tree a few weeks ago. I was sporting a boot because of a broken metatarsal and a brace on my wrist from arthritis.
As Aniya wrapped the lights around the branches and hung the turquoise ornaments beside me, she turned and asked, “What is it like to be old, PK?” My first response was a good, strong belly laugh. After all, her candor took me by surprise.
One day over winter break, I drove to Fairlawn to consult with a Medicare expert since retirement is something I must eventually face. I didn’t have the energy to shop all that much in Fairlawn, probably because so many bags of gifts already littered my spare bedroom, begging to be wrapped. Meanwhile, the snowflakes were falling as I drove home singing Christmas carols.
I spent a lot of thought on Aniya’s question about being old on that drive home, especially after enduring a one-hour tutorial on Medicare B, C and D. I certainly don’t act old, I thought, even when wearing a brace and boot, which I have now graduated from. I can be a bit naughty, even at the age of 66. What I told my darling student when she asked her question was that the inside of us stays much the same throughout our lives. Only the outside changes, which I oftentimes forget until something hurts or aches or I remember someone precious who is now gone.
I think I left off quite a few answers I should have given Aniya, like the fact that those I love seem all the more dear to me as the years pass, and I don’t take much for granted, not that I did when I was young, having grown up with an infant brother dying before me and my baby sister after. Growing up in that environment makes a person real.
What I also didn’t tell Aniya is everything comes out in the wash, eventually. People who are good eventually emerge as good. People who are not, well, you get the idea.
But on this, the sixth day of Christmas, with New Year’s Day just around the corner, I thought of how I could fashion this column as a message to the sweet child who I had the pleasure of teaching this past semester. What can I take forward in the New Year? And what can she?
I despise the one-day or one-week promises called resolutions we so often make (and soon break) as the year ends. Instead of rapid weight loss or nasty habits we boast about changing, I’d rather look at what I learned this year and try to apply that message to the New Year.
Yes, I am a bit more fragile than I have been since Mom and Grandma’s osteoporosis has gained a bit of steam over the past few years, but I value each day in a way I didn’t when I was younger. My 100-year-old mother has taught me a lot with her infrequent appearances. I never know when a good day will come. When she says her mother is sitting in the corner on those occasions, I don’t doubt her. Because of frequent wars, I thank God each day for the safety of my life, the food I eat, the water I drink, the home where I live.
Recently, my daughter had a frightening experience when Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus had a false alarm because of an alleged gunman reported on her work campus. For over one hour, she texted me from a hiding place below her counseling desk, and I prayed like I haven’t since she was a sick child suffering from Lyme disease before her immune diagnosis or when her brother lay in the NICU at 4 pounds on a ventilator after coming into the world two months early and suffering respiratory failure.
To put it straight, what I didn’t tell Aniya is that in the end, all that matters in your life is love — the love of your family, the love of your friends, the love of your co-workers and your career, the love of your students if you are lucky enough to have the thousands of kids to love over a lifetime I’ve had. Everything else pales in comparison. People. Just people count.
Yes, one person can make a difference. My students and I discussed that topic this fall. And that is my continuing resolution — to make this world a better place one smile, one kind word at a time. To love even harder. To show kindness even better. To say nice things just because. That’s what I’ve learned from getting older. That’s what I should have told Aniya.
Now I think I will.