None of our children or grandchildren were able to join us this year for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we extended an invitation for supper to some friends from church. My brother, Tom, joined us too, along with my mom who is living with us. The group included two small boys that surely enjoyed the warm hot cider, and they were very patient while the adults finished their pie and visiting. Once the dishes were cleared from the table, they helped me gather some games for all of us to enjoy.
They had never played “Left-Right-Center”, but they were delighted when the shake of the dice brought them some pennies from the left or the right! The light in their eyes, smiles on their faces, and shouts of “yeah!” were heard when the game was going their way! The object of the game is to be the last player with some pennies. My prizes were pretty simple, some suckers and snack size candy bars, but that was fine with them.
When we brought out the game “ Would You Rather”, we all had a lot of laughs with the crazy questions. The play time ended with a couple hands of UNO, and they were pretty good at laying down those “draw four” cards. Young people just bring life into the group that sometimes grows dim as we age.
Today, as I was going through a drawer of papers, I happened on the following column from Dear Abby. It made me think of the time with the boys, and just acting or feeling young. This column appeared in August of 1982, and the essay was written by a man named Samuel Ullman. He was born in 1840 and died in 1924. It seems to me that this is still relevant today, and I would like to share it with you. And hats off to young people who inspire us to keep breathing life into our sometimes tired bodies and souls!
On Youth
Youth is not entirely a time of life – it is a state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips, or supple knees.
It is a temper of will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals.
You are as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fears;
as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
“In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber;
so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, you are young.
When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism
and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, have you grown old.”
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