I took Luke to the dentist today, a moved up appointment, which was good, he needed an emergency root canal, so we gladly took the appointment. It is a very nice drive to the office, no traffic, pleasant day, again no rain, which I wish was otherwise. Nice days can be way overrated if you ask me. A little rough weather, a nice long downpour, would be good for the area, yet for the last two years we have seen little.
We arrived at the office in Lawrenceville, got there a little early and sat down to wait. I noticed a very old lady sitting there in the corner, with a very big smile on her face, she seemed to glow, and gave me a warm welcome. Across from her were two very young girls, I would say, 7 and 10, both on a small couch, talking and laughing with each other. The very old and the very young, both for me to survey, while pretending to read from the book on my lap. The older women I could tell was one who just loved others, she had an aura about her, welcoming, very much alive, and I would say young at heart.
The two sets of humans, the young and the old seemed the same too me, the older women finding childlike delight in the young, beaming, shedding light, and the young not noticing since that is the way the young can be at a certain age. Yet if I had a choice, I would choose to be the older women, for if my intuition is right, it would certainly be wonderful to be her, at least for awhile. Perhaps she is at the end of a long journey in which her love and kindness was something hard won, a life well lived, at peace.
It does not matter, for I have my own journey, unique in its own way, yet so like others. I have a few more miles to go, not as long as the youngsters, nor would I want it, for one life is more than enough. For our journey is beautiful, full of joy and suffering, success and failure, lots of pain and pleasure, a mixed bag, but I would not have it any other way, for life is the great gift, the wholly freely given grace. A hard journey, with not as many answers as we would like that is for sure. However the elderly, at least the ones I have worked with and talked too are at peace with ‘unknowing’, more so than the young and the not so young.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
