This year has flown by exceptionally fast. I wonder how many felt this is so.
Whatsapp messages often contain messages to make the best of each day as it comes, as we don’t know what lies in store for us. Will we even see the light of the next day?
One of my closest classmates and friend has just lost her spouse with whom she has shared many decades of life. When he could no longer drive a car, I was told that both of them would either catch the train or bus just to go to the next town for lunch. When I heard that, I thought how wonderful it was to have such a loving relationship.
Now she is alone. This will be a very difficult time for her, having to adjust to a single life amidst the emotional loss and grief.
Life is a cycle. We start off single, meet our partner and become a couple, raise a family and when they go off to make their own way in life, we become a couple once more until one of us leaves this world and we are single once more.
It would seem that women outlive the men, going by what I see. Many of my friends are widows. Perhaps men are genetically programmed to live shorter lives than women. However, in my family this isn’t true. The women in my family pre-decease the men. My mum, both my grandmas and two of my sisters departed long ago.
My contemporaries and I are now in our autumn years, enjoying whatever life span is left. We try to meet up as often as we can, fully aware that our days are numbered. I’m blessed to have friends in both parts of the country and we meet over lunches. Another of my classmates will be flying in next month to escape the cold winter of the UK and our core group shall meet again at her favorite restaurant in the capital city.
Meanwhile, I enjoy my days, tending to the little plants now growing on my balcony,
