60 Things About Being 60

Today I am 60.  Wow...that doesn't even look real to me.  It certainly got here quicker than I ever imagined.  As I look back on my life today, I have come up with 60 things I have learned over the course of my 60 years of living.

1. Life is short. 
2. Being kind costs you nothing. 
3. You can’t change the past but you can change you. 
4. Marry the person you can’t live without. 
5. We make too much of our lives about high school.  
6. I wasted too many years seeking my dad’s approval. 
7. Someone’s opinion of you doesn’t mean they are right 
8. There are always three sides to the story. 
9. God is real 
10. Being related to someone doesn’t make them family. 
11. Some people will never let go of your past. 
12. Funerals are for the living. 
13. Everything happens for a reason but many times we don’t know what that reason is. 
14. Don’t loan money to relatives or church people. 
15. If people gossip to you about others they probably gossip to others about you. 
16. Write things down. 
17. Like the person you are. 
18. Take time to sit in silence. 
19. Look for reasons to be kind to others. 
20. Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. 
21. Technology is great when it works. 
22. If you are in a one-sided relationship, you need to let it go 
23. People will let you down but not everyone will. 
24. Actions mean more than words. 
25. Love people without judgment. 
26. Doing nothing changes nothing. 
27. Sometimes you get on your own nerves. 
28. Being a superstar at work will only get you more work. 
29. We spend a lot of time waiting. 
30. Don’t talk about extra money around your house or car. They will want some of it. 
31. It’s okay to have a day when you do nothing. 
32. Learn to be content. 
33. Trust God and leave the results to Him. 
34. Rolling your eyes can get you in trouble. 
35. You don’t need to post everything on social media. 
36. Life isn’t always fair. 
37. Pain is a part of life. 
38. Be quick to forgive. 
39. Don’t brag. Nobody cares anyway. 
40. Get good at being patient. It will constantly be tested. 
41. The older you get the faster the rest of the world gets. 
42. You can’t make people do what you want them to do. 
43. Bad things happen to good people. 
44. People can be annoying. 
45. Some days you wake up with something hurting for no reason. 
46. Enjoy nature. 
47. You can’t live in the past or the future. 
48. De-escalate conflict if possible. 
49. Don’t let the bad days defeat you. 
50. Worrying and preparing are two different things. 
51. Follow your heart but bring your brain too. 
52. Don’t overthink things. 
53. Be willing to adjust to change. 
54. Share your experiences with others. 
55. Use sunscreen. 
56. Everyone will not like you. 
57. Put down the phone. 
58. Don’t live in fear. 
59. What goes around comes around and goes around again. 
60. You can’t stop getting old.

Just Add Seasoning

Things weren’t right in the life of Paul Morgan.

He hated his job. He and his wife, Meghan, were fighting constantly and finances were terrible.

Yet here they were at a beach rental they couldn’t afford for the weekend.

I can’t take this anymore he thought. Nothing is going right.

Meghan was still asleep when he got up. It was early. He put on some light weight clothes, his shoes and his Georgia Bulldogs baseball hat to cover his bed head. He walked to the beach just short of the where the morning waves were crashing against the beach.

He looked over the vast Gulf. It was water as far as his eyes could see.

What am I doing here? He thought to himself. I’m in so deep I don’t know how to dig out of all of this.

“It always seems like that doesn’t it?” said a voice that startled him.

Paul looked and saw an elderly man with a fishing jacket and battered baseball cap with a cross embroidered on it. Paul smiled politely but he wasn’t in a mood to talk to a stranger.

“I’m Oscar but my friends call me Oscar,” the man said with a laugh.

Paul laughed at the lame joke too.

“Well Oscar, are you from around here?” Paul asked.

“Oh I rambled around here and there,” Oscar answered.

“Were you reading my mind?” Paul asked jokingly but hoping he was just guessing.

Oscar looked out at the Gulf where Paul had been looking. He pointed in that direction.

“Usually when I see people staring out there, they are in some deep thoughts.”

“You could say that,” Paul answered.

“What answers are you looking for out there?” Oscar asked waving his hands out over the Gulf.

“That’s just it,” Paul said. “I don’t have any answers.”

They both looked out over the Gulf together. Neither spoke for several minutes.

“Everything is wrong,” Paul finally confessed. “My work, my marriage, my life. I don’t know how to fix any of it or how to make it better.” Paul was surprised that he was sharing his personal problems with a complete stranger yet he felt it was okay to do so.

“Do you cook?” Oscar asked him.

What an odd question Paul thought.

“Uh…yes. I cook sometimes,” Paul answered reluctantly.

“So when you are cooking and something doesn’t taste right what do you do about it?”

Paul thought for a moment.

“I usually have to add some salt or seasoning to it.”

Oscar smiled.

“There you go. That’s your answer,” Oscar smiled.

“Answer to what exactly?” Paul was puzzled.

“Answer to your problems. With problems in your life you need to do the small things to change it.”

Paul looked puzzled.

“Young man, when you are cooking and something doesn’t taste right, you don’t start over — well unless you totally screwed up the recipe. No…you tweak it. Add some seasoning. “

Oscar looked into Paul’s eyes.

“You are trying to look at this as a bigger task when you only need to start doing the smaller things to change it.”

Oscar continued to look at Paul.

He saw the lightbulb in his eyes illuminate.

He got it.

“I see what you mean. I need to stop looking at the big problem and focus on the small things that can change them.”

“Exactly!” Oscar said.

Oscar patted Paul on the shoulder.

“So how do you start adding the seasonings to your work, marriage and your life?”

Paul thought a moment.

“For my marriage, I could put more effort in doing things to show her I love her like a random card that isn’t for a special occasion.”

“There you go!” Oscar answered.

Paul continued.

“For my job, I could get more training on tasks that I am frustrated with and if that doesn’t work, I can look for another job.”

Oscar smiled.

“You see young man, the small things can affect the big things in a big way. You just need to add the right seasoning.”

Paul looked back over the Gulf as his head scanned the horizon from side to side.

He felt better about things.

“Thanks Oscar, I appreciate…..”

Paul was alone. There was no sign of Oscar anywhere on the beach. There was no way he could have left in any direction without Paul seeing him.

Paul looked back to the beach house to see Meghan approaching him. She joined him at the beach.

“I saw you out here alone. I thought I would join you if that’s okay?” She asked.

“Oh of course sweetheart!” Paul said.

“Did you see the man that was talking to me?” He asked her.

Meghan shook her head. “No, you were out here alone. That's why I came out here.”

Just over Meghan’s shoulder he saw Oscar’s hat hanging on a beach chair.

The Day Created by Anna Jarvis

Who is Anna Jarvis?

She is the reason we have Mother's Day.

Anna's mother had desired to establish a holiday to honor mothers.  After the death of Anna's mother, she led the push for honoring mothers on a special day.  

On May 10, 1908, three years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis celebrated mothers during a worship service at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Although Jarvis did not attend this service, she sent a telegram describing the significance of the day and sent 500 white carnations to all who attended the service.  She explained why she selected white carnations:

Its whiteness is to symbolize the truth, purity and broad-charity of mother love; its fragrance, her memory, and her prayers. The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies, and so, too, mothers hug their children to their hearts, their mother love never dying. When I selected this flower, I was remembering my mother's bed of white pinks.

She later spoke in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker's Store Auditorium where her speech moved the audience.

Jarvis continued to refer to her mother's memory and attempted to maintain the sentimental part of what they day meant and her role as the founder of the holiday.  She struggled with the popularity of Mother's Day and the forces of commercialization that took over her original message.  Floral and greeting card companies began to capitalize on the day she had founded.  As the years passed, Jarvis grew disenchanted with the growing commercialization of the observation and even attempted to have Mother's Day rescinded. Jarvis died of heart failure in a sanitarium in November 1948, her medical bills paid by people in the floral and greeting card industries.

Anna Jarvis never married or had any children.