Good Fortune..or Counting Your Blessings Instead of Candles

Blake Hurst
 Tarkio, Missouri 2001:

"I had planned on aging as a sort of gradual process, a graceful slide from the summer of my life through a rewarding fall, with winter somewhere far in the future.  No sudden changes, just a slow decline into senescence with, finally, a gray and stooped version of me dispensing wisdom to my many grandchildren on the porch of our farm home, these wisdom dispensing sessions taking place mostly in the early fall, because that is the only time of year the weather is bearable here in the Midwest...."

That was more than a decade ago now.  On the one hand,  birthday number 56 hasn't settled Blake into either decline or senescence. Gray...well, that's another matter....over time, the salt is gradually taking the place of the pepper on his head.

On the other hand, I don't think his wildest dreams would have imagined the marvelous, wild, and wonderful sextet of grandchildren available for gathering around, climbing on, listening to, and napping with their Grandpa.  Those words have borne fruit; what a blessed fortune foretold and become real!  Adding years, gray hairs not withstanding, is the best gift of all with these kids around....even is they ignore all that "wisdom" and just want to read books instead!