Finding Significance of Life by Dr. Juan Harrison
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Staring into the fridge I grabbed some Swiss cheese and a handful of grapes for an energy booster. We’re heading into the country to rassle with the grands. Maybe we keep em in the pool for the most part and just supervise. The kids need a little weekly date night to have an uninterrupted conversation.
I don’t wanna fly jets, ride motorcycles, or race horses. Loud noises give me a headache; I think I still have a lingering one from my last trip to Bristol, TN for a grimy visit to the dusty and loud racetrack there. Funny how we just keep adjusting our life activities from our youth to accommodate the aging process. We all have great memories of the good old days when love was new and everything worked. These days you make plans and hope your body cooperates.
Men are probably the worst or the dumbest. We know better, but still we drag our old bodies out there mowing, weed-eating, fence mending, gate fixing, and then complain when we can hardly make it to church because we overdid it and are all stove up. You can tell us; you just can’t tell us much.
I’ve often said that when we were younger we either worked too much or too little. Surprisingly or not, one of the top reasons given on a survey of women about why they divorced was the spouse’s failure to work and provide for the family. A young Hispanic woman told me what made a man sexy was having a job. Wow, us guys who’ve held two or three jobs at a time may be hotter than we thought. I think there may be even more involved like women being able to take pride in their husband’s work and how it helps identify him as a man. In retirement us guys do sometimes seem to have left a lot of our identity behind at the workplace. We don’t necessarily wanna get back into it, but sometimes it’s hard to fill that work void and not feel a little lost just piddling.
Men are simple yet complicated. We wanna feel useful. Work may have filled that void but now it’s gone. The challenge for us is to find something or someone to help make our days meaningful. The recliner has a tendency to slowly kill you. You’re only working your fingers on the channel changer and volume control.
If we’re fortunate enough and able enough to be involved with the grands or great grands, then we’re blessed. If they’ll let us, maybe we can be involved with them. If not then, maybe reach out to a neighbor couple or one from church who might like a break or a night off from the kids. It doesn’t necessarily take a lot for us old guys to find some meaning and significance in life. There’s somebody out there needing a little attention in their lives. We just have to keep our eyes open for an opportunity to feel significant again.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
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