All Things Are Temporary
One of the drawbacks of aging is truly understanding the meaning of the word "temporary". Each day as we grow older we experience not only the temporary physical states of hair, muscle control, eyesight, hearing, and memory but environmental ones as well. Weather, seasons, friends, homes, good, evil... Everything becomes temporary! When you have children, these temporary things (all of them!) become more apparent since you now have constant reminders of that temporariness.
Ah! Yes!...You hear all your life that children keep you young and living! Then why are you constantly feeling old and dying while raising them? The secret is understanding that word "temporary". I used to struggle with getting children to be able to feed, dress, bathe, and go to the bathroom on their own. Those struggles had me feeling so drained at times both physically and mentally but they all were temporary. Now before you get the impression that I feel better realizing that fact let me burst your bubble! Those temporary struggles are replaced by OTHER temporary struggles as children age too! Do you see where this is going?....Right!...I stated earlier that the secret is understanding the word "temporary". Here's that understanding...Since everything is temporary and is replaced by other temporary things then feeling better through it all has to be the acceptance of the futility of worry at the beset of each temporary replacement. For those of you who just read that and come to the conclusion that I have absolutely too much time on my hands and some kind of mental disorder let me sum it up simply. For me it is not enough to tell me not to worry because I have no reason to worry. I am the type of person that has to convince myself through my own system of observation, thought, logic, and testing before accepting the fact. It is my curse and each of us have curses, which brings me to my new temporary state of contemplation....If all things are truly temporary then sanity becomes an issue on a daily basis and perhaps I can dismiss my mistakes simply by saying...I ain't right! (For you "Northern" folk among us that translates to "Jeff's just not right in the head!")...Love to all..."If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" - Steven Wright.....As if you didn't have enough to wonder about today....Jeff
