A nearby neighbor (re)introduced my wife and me to her parents who recently moved in across from us. My wife had met them previously, but I had not. After the introduction, he said, “You were cutting the yard this morning, weren’t you?” I nodded. He replied, “I used to do that. I like to. I can’t do it anymore though.”
“I can’t do it anymore.” The words have hung in my mind like a coat from my youth hanging in the closet; I couldn’t fit in if I tried, no matter how much I liked it then. So, it hangs there. So, his words hang there. I would like to wear the coat again; he’d like to be able to cut his yard again.
As kids, cutting the yard was cool, if the neighbor was paying us to cut the grass, or a burden when cutting it for mom and dad kept us from playing. As homeowners, it became part of the weekend ritual before heading off to little league with the kids or something. At some point in one’s chronology, it becomes something we wished we had the capacity to do again.
Do what you can while you can because you can’t forever.
My mom told me stories about her doing cartwheels in the front yard with my sister. Mom was 40 at the time. With that story firmly implanted in my head, I felt empowered to do a cartwheel for my granddaughter when I was 60. I got a good start but my legs did not make it to the 12 o’clock position. Alas, it wasn’t pretty but I counted it as a kindasorta cartwheel. I am pretty sure that I couldn’t muster one now, but I did while I could.
Doing something while we still can may enable and empower us to do it longer than we thought possible. In the news recently was a 106-year-old man diving off the back of a boat for a swim and a 105-year-old woman competing in a track meet. Maybe it is tying flies or fly fishing or dancing or sewing or running in a 5k event or singing or diving a cannonball or… There are things you could do at 6 that you can’t at 30; at 30 that you can’t at 50; at 50 that you can’t at…and so it goes. Sometimes you can do those things, but it just ain’t as pretty…like my cartwheel.
Do it – whatever “it” is – while you can. What was once considered a chore may someday be something you consider wistfully.