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Out To Pastor
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I were finishing our supper. If anyone can put together a marvelous supper, it is she. If anybody can eat a marvelous supper, it is me.
As we were finishing, she looked over at me and said, “My dear, do you know what we will be celebrating next week?”
Rubbing my chin, I said, “Well, we just celebrated the 4th of July a week ago, so I’m not sure what that next holiday is.”
“Oh, you silly boy,” she said, laughing at me. “Just think for a while and maybe you’ll come up with the right idea.”
At my age, it’s tough to think, even for a while. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just inserted, “Is it one of our grandchildren’s birthday?”
“No, no, no,” she said, laughing at me. “None of our children or grandchildren are having birthdays rather, it is someone sitting here at our table.”
“Oh,” I said, “so you’re having a birthday next week. How old are you going to be?”
“You’re right about that,” she said, “but somebody else is having a birthday next week. You have any idea who that might be?”
I thought for a moment, and then it finally hit me. “Do you mean I’m going to have a birthday next week?”
I looked at her and said, “But how is that possible? I just had a birthday not long ago.”
“That was 12 months ago now you’re facing another birthday.” She looked at me and laughed. I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I was having another birthday. Why is it that birthdays come so fast the older you get?
I married the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage for many reasons. The best part of marrying her was that her birthday was two days after mine. That would enable me to keep up with my birthday.
One thing I have learned in my marriage is that women, especially wives, remember birthdays. She knows every birthday of every person on her side of the family, as well as all of our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. I don’t know how she can remember all those birthdays, but she does, and that’s a good thing.
With another candle on my birthday cake, I now celebrate the fact that I am older today than yesterday. That has some benefits associated with it. I just can’t think of any.
The best thing about my birthday being two days ahead of hers is that once my birthday is celebrated, I can then go out the next day and get a birthday card and present for The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. If it were the other way around, she would never get a birthday present on time from me.
Getting old is a blessing in many ways. One of the blessings is memory failure. There are some things that I don’t want to remember, and at my age, I’m not able to.
At my age, I have discovered that the only important thing is today. Not yesterday or tomorrow, but today.
I was reminded of one of my favorite Bible verses. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
I can’t change yesterday or predict tomorrow, but I can rejoice in Today.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@ gmail.com, website www. jamessnyderministries.com
