{"id":11220,"date":"2016-03-09T17:17:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T01:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=11220"},"modified":"2016-03-09T19:33:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T03:33:30","slug":"on-being-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2016\/03\/09\/on-being-50\/","title":{"rendered":"On Being 50"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Windy-Day-Dohennie-115\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
A windy day just before we both turned 50 (last month).<\/h6>\n

Having just passed our 50th anniversary, I’m thinking I’ll start referring to myself as 50 years old. I don’t know if I’ll get away with it, but it goes along with the realization that my life basically began when I got married.<\/p>\n

That’s when I began to get serious about things, when I had someone to live\u00a0for, and to share (as the scripture says) in the grace of life.* I like that, the grace of life.<\/p>\n

Marriage, I’ve long said, is heaven on earth . . . WHEN IT’S GOOD.<\/p>\n

Of course when it’s bad, it’s like a strong undertow to the other place. And what marriage\u00a0hasn’t experienced some of that . . . maybe on a recurring basis.\u00a0But even that, when it’s overcome, is a grace. The grace of life.<\/p>\n

Anne and I went out to dinner AGAIN commemorating our 50 years (something we plan to do all year long). I told the young hostess who seated us of the occasion. She said, \u201cWow, what’s the secret?\u201d She revealed she’s in her first year of marriage and already looking for \u201cthe secret.\u201d I just said, \u201cGod.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which she responded, \u201cPraise God.\u201d<\/p>\n

I’m not sure I’m really going to push this being 50 though. I don’t know if it’s better to look\u00a0like an oldish 50 or a youngish 72.<\/p>\n

In the end, it is what it is. And what it feels like<\/em> is more important anyway. So far, so good on that. The canoeing is fine. But I know the rapids are ahead, and the eventual waterfall.<\/p>\n

Calling myself 50 won’t forestall the waterfall.<\/p>\n

Meantime, I’m back to scripture, and one of my favorites:<\/p>\n

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun.<\/em>*<\/p>\n

And that’s ALL the years, be they ONE, like the young hostess in the restaurant, or 75 like my parents had.<\/p>\n

It’s all grace.<\/p>\n

A grace together.<\/p>\n

_________
\n* 1 Peter 3:7
\n** Ecclesiastes 9:9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the end, it’s not how you look, but how you feel. Or is it both? Or neither? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11220"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11239,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11220\/revisions\/11239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}