~forever 17~

It was inevitable that sooner or later it would be asked of me, and I was prepared with the answer just as soon as I heard the sweet voice of a little 8-year old ask me the question at school last week.

"Mrs. Renfro, how old are you anyways?"
I used to have kids guess when they were so inquisitive that they just had to know their teacher's age.  Their answers were usually innocent enough with some giving me numbers that were a couple of decades either side of my real age.  But in my later years as a teacher, I have found myself giving the answer straight up, just like I did last Tuesday at school.

"As a matter of fact, I'm going to turn 62 on my birthday this October 26th."
There is always a look of surprise and shock on the face of at least one kid in the group.  This year was no exception.

You know, as a teacher I have never minded telling children how old I was.  I mean really, what's the big secret in it all?  They are curious and when they ask me in the naive way that children barely out of the womb will ask, I always respond with an answer.  Yet there is even more to my doing so than that.

I feel blessed to have lived this long a life and I celebrate that fact every single day.  I was born into a Kansas farming family with 7 little children in it.  For many years, we all stuck around on this earth living lives that were meant to be for us.  Then one by one, the people in my family went away through one means or another.  My older sister was killed in a car accident in 1969 at the very young age of 27.  In 2007, my older brother died of ALS.  Just this year alone two of my older sisters have passed away within 6 weeks of one another, leaving only myself and two other siblings back home in Kansas.  Our parents are gone now as well.  It is unusually strange right now to realize that I may be a member of the "last man standing" club in the future.  

Yet at least I am here still.
And you think it would bother me to tell someone my age?

My plan is to embrace 62 and give it a big hug all year long.  I'm going to pack a whole lot into those 365 days that shall be given to me before I turn 63.  If for some reason 62 is the last birthday I should celebrate, then I will not have wanted to waste one single moment of any of those given days.  

Time takes its toll on the human body.  Eyesight dims and hearing falters.  Our skin becomes wrinkled and paper thin to the touch.  Where once were locks of dark auburn hair, grey strands have now made an appearance.  I am finding myself ever more careful of how I walk about, paying attention so I don't fall.  

So far.  
So good.

One thing that the years cannot take away from is my spirit and the heart that goes with it.  Mine will be forever 17 and with all that I have in me, I have made the decision to keep it that way until the bitter end.

How about you dear friends?
Can the same be said for you.
I hope so.

Children are the reason my spirit is well these days.  Working with them, no matter how challenging it may be at times, is the only life I have ever known.  Oh how the good Lord has blessed me over the past 40 years!

Perhaps I shall grow to be as old as my sweet Aunt Rebecca was.  It would be a lofty goal!  
Peggy Renfro at 103~imagine that!