Hi, Carrie. Welcome to elderhood from a man who will be 70 in a few weeks.
A side story, my partner's brother was 64 last year and visited us for lunch. I asked him what it felt like being 64. Without aa thought he answered, 'you mean 46.' I had nothing to say but thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder what he will say when he is 65, or better when he is 66...
There is a quote from Jung along the lines of, 'should we live the evening of our lives as we did the morning of our lives...'
Living in a rural area, I welcome the first weed in our field. It signals our vegetables will be out sooner rather than later.
I have always been a Spring girl but as an older girl now this sentence from "The Comfort of Crows" sums it up perfectly for me "And so I greet this season with a quiet and a stillness I never felt when I was younger." One of the many gifts of aging is just that! I have found I spend a little longer in reverence enjoying the things and people that bring me joy. Here is what I love so much about Spring in my yard. I love the sounds of hearing the birds sing and sing. I love seeing the ducks and geese with their partners planning on where to have those babies. Right now I step out on the deck and look around and see the azaleas which are big and bold and colorful...purple, red, hot pink, white..all around. I see the Dogwoods just opening up and the Mountain Laurel with buds on the trees. Yesterday I saw a Swallowtail Butterfly and I clapped for her. Ahhh Spring you bring me such joy!! Thank you Carrie for the reminder to take it all in. Have a fantastic Spring day.
Ooo, can’t be feeding da birds out this way now, our mostly neighborly black bears are about, out In these Berkshire Hills. Also our local herds of deer like the birdseed, too. 🙏🏻
There is a smile in my heart when it is the Gathering of the Spirits Sunday!!!! I too am 64. 65 is knocking on my door in a few weeks. I was stunned that all the Medicare mail has been for me!!! Although some days this body feels like 84, the younger me seems to live around 9!!! Although I do not knit or crochet, I love markers and coloring, and putting life together in a scrapbook! With taxes to do and social worker notes to write, and my current scrapbook project sadly behind, I too was pulled outside by my heart yesterday. Mowing, weeding, and deciding if it would be wise to pull out the cushions for the chairs or wait for the next Spring rain to come again today. My friend has a litter of 6 new puppies in her house and my two tiny dogs are on the hunt for bunnies squatting safely under my deck to raise their latest arrivals. The signs of new life are everywhere (even though Indiana weather makes me still take plants back inside so they won’t freeze!!!) My grandma, mother, and two aunts lived until 92. Whether I will or not is unknown to me, but what I do know, is that new life will always be around me, new insightful, soul moving, joy causing, life discovering, Carrie music will be a part of this last season of my life, and that is a gift that always brings the beauty of spring and new life to me. Thank you for all the ways you touch my life in all the moments good and bad. And thanks to all who live here at The Gathering of the Spirits. PS. I miss the online performances we had during the pandemic 😷! Maybe you could figure a way to sell tickets to shows we can’t come to in person but could watch as if we were there….just a thought….
I was captured by the phrase “postponed what was expected and went ahead and did what was right.” (It sounds like a song.) In the midst of being 64, I seem to constantly be living with the question of what is right for this time. One thing I do know is that when I pass from this life into mystery, I hope to leave behind lots of unfinished projects-not because I didn’t do everything I wanted to do, but because I still look forward to the next thing.
I especially love the sounds of Spring, the orchestra of birds in the morning and the crickets and tree frogs in the evening.
I love the "glitter trees" (quaking aspen) that grow along the river. In the late Spring & Summer months, my daily commute usually features the sun in just the right spot to catch the silvery leaves quaking in the wind. Ahhh, Moments of Wonder!
Carrie, I love the spring ephemerals, those flowers that still exist only because of life's basic tenacity, and because they grow best in places that nobody has yet figured out how to destroy while making a buck. So I spend a lot of time with them, always with the knowledge that it may be the last time. (Oh. I think I am about six months older than you are. I understand today's subject rather well.)
First, thank you for this beautiful reflection. My answer to your spring question is I love the moment each spring when I first notice the greening of the small tree branches. The soft, velvety, barely there impression of green that is the trees announcing “we’re back, we made it through the cold and our fluids are moving with the warming light!”
I’m here this weekend at Siena Retreat Center with you and Gary! Still glowing from the mini-retreat yesterday in which our community-for-the-day wrote an amazing song (if I do say so myself) which we will sing at the concert later today. Siena is holy ground for me (and so many others) who trained here to be spiritual directors and guides. Carrie, you too are a spiritual guide, walking along so many with the words and music you gift to the world.
Safe travels when you leave this sacred space for your own sacred space of home in Indiana. I hope the eclipse is a moment of fully present time for you, Robert, and the dogs - and the trees and your garden. Happy Spring and thank you.
This week the Cedar Waxwing birds made their annual migration north stop to feast on the leftover fruit on the flowering crab trees behind my condo. The bright yellow stripes on the ends of their tails are such a delightful sight that I look forward to each spring!
Well, since the red buds and brilliant spring green are already taken....I choose the whole of it...."every little bit of it..." as it is permission and an encouragement to keep growing...to put out brand new buds. "Go ahead," says the Creator, "make more seeds. The world still needs who you are."
I love the sound of the birds that have returned, despite the fact that I live in the midwest and the birds must feel their return was premature as they encounter April snow mixed in with the warmer days. I, too, have become an older woman, despite the fact that I was sure I would cross over much sooner due to family history. I'm enjoying this chapter of life and do not feel my age, though the mirror shows me I am.... I was very much looking forward to attending your concert today but, alas, had to postpone because I overestimated my ability to drive to Racine 6 weeks post a total knee replacement. I will have to wait until the fall to see and hear you live again. Namaste!
I am not female, and so, I do not feel as judged by my age. Perhaps I just don't let it bother me. The year I turned forty, I bicycled from Washington to Maine. The year I turned 43, I did it again. This time my wife, who is five years my senior, went along for the ride. Not tandem. Some days, up to a mile between us was to our advantage.
I happen to be the same age as Carrie Newcomer and I like to check on when certain of her songs were published. I think about where I was at in my journey that year.
We might not be cycle tourists or touring musicians, but we still produce a lot of our summer food and put a lot of fruit by, for the dark cold winter months.
I do what I can and I don't what I can't. This keep my disappointment level low.
So many chapters my life has written for me to read and re-read.
It is a change for me to live in happy joyous freedom.
I think you are wrong and I think you will agree. It’s not a three act play, there are four acts. We who believe have been promised that fourth act, but it’s too wonderful for us to imagine at this point. So don’t be depressed, look forward to act four. You’ll be reunited with loved ones, you’ll be far happier than you can imagine, and the good news - it will never end.
I cherish the spring air, full of moisture and birdsong.
Thank you, dear Carrie, for the encouragement I find in this beautiful posting.
Phil
Hi, Carrie. Welcome to elderhood from a man who will be 70 in a few weeks.
A side story, my partner's brother was 64 last year and visited us for lunch. I asked him what it felt like being 64. Without aa thought he answered, 'you mean 46.' I had nothing to say but thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder what he will say when he is 65, or better when he is 66...
There is a quote from Jung along the lines of, 'should we live the evening of our lives as we did the morning of our lives...'
Living in a rural area, I welcome the first weed in our field. It signals our vegetables will be out sooner rather than later.
I agree with Phil. Lovely posting, Carrie.
Brian
I have always been a Spring girl but as an older girl now this sentence from "The Comfort of Crows" sums it up perfectly for me "And so I greet this season with a quiet and a stillness I never felt when I was younger." One of the many gifts of aging is just that! I have found I spend a little longer in reverence enjoying the things and people that bring me joy. Here is what I love so much about Spring in my yard. I love the sounds of hearing the birds sing and sing. I love seeing the ducks and geese with their partners planning on where to have those babies. Right now I step out on the deck and look around and see the azaleas which are big and bold and colorful...purple, red, hot pink, white..all around. I see the Dogwoods just opening up and the Mountain Laurel with buds on the trees. Yesterday I saw a Swallowtail Butterfly and I clapped for her. Ahhh Spring you bring me such joy!! Thank you Carrie for the reminder to take it all in. Have a fantastic Spring day.
Ooo, can’t be feeding da birds out this way now, our mostly neighborly black bears are about, out In these Berkshire Hills. Also our local herds of deer like the birdseed, too. 🙏🏻
Forsythia….and cheery pansies.
There is a smile in my heart when it is the Gathering of the Spirits Sunday!!!! I too am 64. 65 is knocking on my door in a few weeks. I was stunned that all the Medicare mail has been for me!!! Although some days this body feels like 84, the younger me seems to live around 9!!! Although I do not knit or crochet, I love markers and coloring, and putting life together in a scrapbook! With taxes to do and social worker notes to write, and my current scrapbook project sadly behind, I too was pulled outside by my heart yesterday. Mowing, weeding, and deciding if it would be wise to pull out the cushions for the chairs or wait for the next Spring rain to come again today. My friend has a litter of 6 new puppies in her house and my two tiny dogs are on the hunt for bunnies squatting safely under my deck to raise their latest arrivals. The signs of new life are everywhere (even though Indiana weather makes me still take plants back inside so they won’t freeze!!!) My grandma, mother, and two aunts lived until 92. Whether I will or not is unknown to me, but what I do know, is that new life will always be around me, new insightful, soul moving, joy causing, life discovering, Carrie music will be a part of this last season of my life, and that is a gift that always brings the beauty of spring and new life to me. Thank you for all the ways you touch my life in all the moments good and bad. And thanks to all who live here at The Gathering of the Spirits. PS. I miss the online performances we had during the pandemic 😷! Maybe you could figure a way to sell tickets to shows we can’t come to in person but could watch as if we were there….just a thought….
I was captured by the phrase “postponed what was expected and went ahead and did what was right.” (It sounds like a song.) In the midst of being 64, I seem to constantly be living with the question of what is right for this time. One thing I do know is that when I pass from this life into mystery, I hope to leave behind lots of unfinished projects-not because I didn’t do everything I wanted to do, but because I still look forward to the next thing.
I especially love the sounds of Spring, the orchestra of birds in the morning and the crickets and tree frogs in the evening.
I love the "glitter trees" (quaking aspen) that grow along the river. In the late Spring & Summer months, my daily commute usually features the sun in just the right spot to catch the silvery leaves quaking in the wind. Ahhh, Moments of Wonder!
Carrie, I love the spring ephemerals, those flowers that still exist only because of life's basic tenacity, and because they grow best in places that nobody has yet figured out how to destroy while making a buck. So I spend a lot of time with them, always with the knowledge that it may be the last time. (Oh. I think I am about six months older than you are. I understand today's subject rather well.)
Good morning Carrie,
First, thank you for this beautiful reflection. My answer to your spring question is I love the moment each spring when I first notice the greening of the small tree branches. The soft, velvety, barely there impression of green that is the trees announcing “we’re back, we made it through the cold and our fluids are moving with the warming light!”
I’m here this weekend at Siena Retreat Center with you and Gary! Still glowing from the mini-retreat yesterday in which our community-for-the-day wrote an amazing song (if I do say so myself) which we will sing at the concert later today. Siena is holy ground for me (and so many others) who trained here to be spiritual directors and guides. Carrie, you too are a spiritual guide, walking along so many with the words and music you gift to the world.
Safe travels when you leave this sacred space for your own sacred space of home in Indiana. I hope the eclipse is a moment of fully present time for you, Robert, and the dogs - and the trees and your garden. Happy Spring and thank you.
This week the Cedar Waxwing birds made their annual migration north stop to feast on the leftover fruit on the flowering crab trees behind my condo. The bright yellow stripes on the ends of their tails are such a delightful sight that I look forward to each spring!
Well, since the red buds and brilliant spring green are already taken....I choose the whole of it...."every little bit of it..." as it is permission and an encouragement to keep growing...to put out brand new buds. "Go ahead," says the Creator, "make more seeds. The world still needs who you are."
I love the sound of the birds that have returned, despite the fact that I live in the midwest and the birds must feel their return was premature as they encounter April snow mixed in with the warmer days. I, too, have become an older woman, despite the fact that I was sure I would cross over much sooner due to family history. I'm enjoying this chapter of life and do not feel my age, though the mirror shows me I am.... I was very much looking forward to attending your concert today but, alas, had to postpone because I overestimated my ability to drive to Racine 6 weeks post a total knee replacement. I will have to wait until the fall to see and hear you live again. Namaste!
I am not female, and so, I do not feel as judged by my age. Perhaps I just don't let it bother me. The year I turned forty, I bicycled from Washington to Maine. The year I turned 43, I did it again. This time my wife, who is five years my senior, went along for the ride. Not tandem. Some days, up to a mile between us was to our advantage.
I happen to be the same age as Carrie Newcomer and I like to check on when certain of her songs were published. I think about where I was at in my journey that year.
We might not be cycle tourists or touring musicians, but we still produce a lot of our summer food and put a lot of fruit by, for the dark cold winter months.
I do what I can and I don't what I can't. This keep my disappointment level low.
So many chapters my life has written for me to read and re-read.
It is a change for me to live in happy joyous freedom.
https://jeffastle.substack.com/publish/home
I think you are wrong and I think you will agree. It’s not a three act play, there are four acts. We who believe have been promised that fourth act, but it’s too wonderful for us to imagine at this point. So don’t be depressed, look forward to act four. You’ll be reunited with loved ones, you’ll be far happier than you can imagine, and the good news - it will never end.
This is a beautiful piece of writing, Carrie. Even more, it reflects a beautiful way of living. Thank you for all of it!