I spent my entire life collecting experiences with each one soon becoming a memory.
Like the slow rise of high tide, my mind has been gradually filled with so many wonderful memories and some very dark ones too.
I lived through the depression, fought in a world war, married the love of my life, raised two boys, lost one tragically and helped the other continue on to be a good man.
I worked hard and saved every penny I could. I gave my family the shirt off my back and all the while, I still lived, loved and laughed. I rode the crest of the high tide and I collected so many precious memories along the way.
I knew the time might come when the waters would recede. When the floodgates that sheltered so many precious memories would open to allow the unthinkable.
You see, life is all about ebb and flow. Life gives and takes. There is no in-between. Like the tides, a flow will always be followed by an ebb.
So over nine decades later, the waters have begun to recede. Flows are no longer possible, just ebbs. Names, places and faces... they all begin to fade into the distance like the low tide.
I've charted the flowing high waters for most of my life. I know these waters well, but the ebb leaves me confused and afraid. I don't know how to navigate these increasingly shallow waters at all. I need help.
I am standing on the shore now, I see the tide pulling away. I see it, but I don't understand what it means. I become more uncertain and afraid. What will it be like when the tide is all but gone leaving me with a few puddles of consciousness?
I'm not sure, but I sense that I will not be alone. I may not recognize who is with me on the shore as we look out, but I somehow know that someone will be holding my hand until the water disappears into the horizon. I will not be on that shoreline alone.
With nothing but sand from where I stand to the horizon, I somehow understand that this leg of my journey is coming to an end. Time to start a new one in a different place and time with people I have not seen in so long.
I am tired, I am ready and most of all, I am putting my faith in something bigger than all of us.
My dear son, please hold my hand as we step off the shore onto the sandy path to the horizon. The sun is bright and warm on my face. It feels like the right time and the right place to press forward.
You can let go of my hand now, for I am soon going to be holding someone else's. I have always loved you deeply. That memory is mine to keep for eternity. 🙏
