Father Sky filled his blue sky canvas with cirrus clouds today, thin and wispy layers making cloud feathers as they intercepted the jet contrails in the high sky. When we have cirrus clouds we usually have a beautiful sunset. I cooked a good supper tonight for Stew and me so being the “pig” I am, I was more serious about eating than watching the sunset. I was crushed when I realized, as I loaded the dishwasher, I had missed a glorious sunset pageant. I can imagine one in my mind but the colors won’t be as spectacular as the watercolors on Mother Nature’s paint brushes. Father Sky had to pull Mr. Waning Gibbous Moon out of the clouds tonight, 64 percent dressed, and coax the stars to turn on their twinkles. Night has waked on my little peace of paradise.

The birds have filled my yard and feeders today. They’ve been singing up a storm, guess they’re enjoying the warmer temperatures. Nothing has bothered the feeders at night and I haven’t caught a raccoon on the back deck. The marshmallows have disappeared twice so I’m thinking the trap is broken from the wild dogs dragging it around. I sat on the deck late afternoon and straightened the trip arm some more and put two marshmallows in the cage. Maybe a squirrel or chipmunk is taking the bait. As long as they leave the feeders alone they can have an occasional marshmallow.

I was pondering on age today and how fast our lives really pass. We work, work, work when we are young, climbing the corporate and social ladders. Once we reach the top it’s time to retire and our children are grown and gone and we’ve missed so many of life’s little blessings that occur in everyday living. My family sat down and ate supper every night together when I was growing up. And when we were all out of school for summer and holidays we sat down and ate lunch together, too.

I remember once I had a date in high school, we were going to Sam’s Cafe for the “sirloin steak for two” as the menu said, and Daddy made me sit with the family at the dinner table till my date arrived. Chief and I and our children ate supper together every night, too. But the world turned on a slower axel then. Life is so busy now, I just wonder how many young families can even find a time in their live’s schedules to all sit down and eat a meal together.

The public administration considers old age as 65 years of age or older. We experience our “golden years” beginning then and these years go until age 80. Never understood what the “golden years” are. Research says “the term Golden Years is used to describe the phase of life that begins in one’s senior years…a poetic expression that conjures images of warmth, wisdom, and a sense of tranquility.” I think I have the tranquility, not sure of the wisdom part, but I do have the warmth of my family’s love and the warmth of my heated cardinal lap blanket.

Jesus died at age 33. And think of what all he had accomplished and all he had suffered by that age. He died in the prime of his life to save us from our sins. At age 33 I was pregnant and expecting my third child. Life was going well, Chief and I and the children were happy and healthy. Some say the mid-30’s are the happiest years of our lives. I don’t know…I was so content with life till Rosalyn’s death in 2002. Her death was a great blow to Chief and me and it took us a long while to see sunshine at the end of that tunnel. Thomas’ marriage to Ashley and their children brought so much love and happiness back into our lives.

I have a new happiness now, retired and living in my family’s home where I grew up. I’m the third generation to call this house home. I think at this age contentment is a personification of happiness. Happiness is fleeting, rushing in and out of our lives, but contentment is a blessing of a life lived well and happily. I think happiness is an emotion, a short burst of joy or laughter, and contentment is a feeling of gratitude and peacefulness that stays with us. You can be happy and content but you are blessed if you can say you are truly content with your life.

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” ― Socrates