Today is my birthday!  As of 4:05 AM (EST), I am 66 years old (according to my baby book). I have never feared getting older knowing that longevity comes with wisdom.

This year saw many changes for our world as well as me personally. I retired from full-time employment in August and wanted to carefully discern how I would be spending the rest of my time on earth. As I heard Tom Hanks say in an interview this week, “there’s just certain things that a guy like me who’s 64 shouldn’t be doing any more”.  “I agree, Tom!!!” It’s nice to have some guardrails unlike when I was 20 and the choices were unlimited.

But limits don’t mean less opportunities. I recently had my annual physical (postponed from earlier in the year due to COVID-19), and my physician was impressed with my laboratory tests and vital signs. Last year my blood pressure was trending up and my triglycerides/cholesterol were above normal limits. This year, my blood pressure is back to high normal and my other lab tests are all within normal range.

What has made the difference?

Well, it’s hard to say but maybe a combination of things:

1. I gained 10 pounds during early COVID-19 but have lost them due to better eating habits at home and walking my golden retriever

2. Retirement has served me well without the hustle and bustle of full-time work in healthcare. I feel like I have more time to devote to even mundane tasks without always feeling like I’m running up hill

3. The pandemic has caused me to “pause”. It’s been a deep “pause” where I no longer am obligated to rush around to every “invitation” for my time. I had forgotten that often, “No” is the right answer to requests for time, talent and treasure.

4. I’ve had time to search back and remember a host of events; timeperiods in my 66 years and be thankful for all of them. Just a few:

• The welcoming environment of the students and teachers at Geneseo Central when I transferred on Thanksgiving Day of ninth grade. They made an “outsider” feel like “one of the pack” on my first day

• The learning environment and friendships when I transferred to Oklahoma University for Pharmacy School

• My aunt from Rochester, NY sending me “I love you” cards every other week (with money!) when I transferred to Oklahoma University

• My golf coach and other players like Dawn Hollingsworth who were constant encouragers every time we were at practice or in a tournament

• The hospital pharmacy community in Oklahoma where I got my career start and developed life-long friendships and a desire to help patients and physicians make the best use of their medications

• The richness and friendships of people of San Antonio who welcomed me even though I didn’t know any Spanish but came to crave “breakfast tacos” from the Taco Hut next to the hospital

• The warm welcome I experienced in moving to Nashville both at my workplace and in finding a new church where my faith was nourished including six trips to South Africa for ministry work

  
  

The list is way too long for this post, but know that if you’ve crossed my life, I am grateful for you and the memories we’ve shared.

You may challenge me that surely not all memories are positive. I’ve experienced the incompetent bosses, or the cold shoulder from colleagues, and bad personal relationships, but I took away from those even greater lessons of how “not to behave”. Sometimes we learn the most from our negative experiences. I am grateful to those people even though it is the antithesis of what you would expect.

Which brings me to the end of another great year! I have great memories and hope to make many more. What my thoughts have shown me is that I should strive to inspire others as the examples that have been set for me.

As we hear in 2 Thessalonians 3:13: “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”

 Blessings, my friend, on my birthday,
Agatha