Beginning my 70th year

 


Dear Friends,

As I turned 69 this week and entered my 70th year of life, I have become even more reflective.

In this week's Torah reading, B'Midbar (in the desert) which begins with our ancestors in the desert, we are all counted.  I got to thinking about making life count and whether my life counts.

When I was growing up my parents used to talk about their aging and hoping to be blessed with three score and 10 years and if blessed with strength, 80 years.  They lived to 82 and 86.

In my 50's I was diagnosed with prostate cancer which was cured (fortunately) and in my  60's I had a heart attack (mild) and I am fully recovered.  I feel very blessed but also very motivated to fill every day with some sort of activity which helps others.  

I thought you would enjoy reading the lyrics to a song by Simon and Garfunkel which was one of my favorites and now has extra meaning.  (See below)  Although it is a sad song and today, living in one's 70th year is much different, the lyrics remind me of the passage of time.

As we all wander in the desert (B'midbar), may we make our lives count and may those in need be able to count on us.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft

Old friends
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass

Falls on the round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends

Old friends
Winter companions
The old men
Lost in their overcoats
Waiting for the sunset
The sounds of the city
Sifting through trees
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends

Can you imagine us
Years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy

Old friends
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fear

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