{"id":7648,"date":"2013-09-01T22:46:37","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T05:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2013-09-01T22:46:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T05:46:37","slug":"on-turning-70-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/09\/01\/on-turning-70-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"On Turning 70, part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Self-portrait\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is me, by me, casting around for something to paint some weeks ago. I was just 69 then. So young.\u00a0Here are two quotes sent to me by another friend: \u201cAging seems to be the only available way to live a long life,\u201c and \u201cI will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.\u201d<\/h6>\n

At the risk of beating this thing to death, here’s one more on the subject. After this I won’t commemorate any more birthdays until age 75.<\/p>\n

Many people have offered their good wishes for the day. The fact is, the day passed like many others. At least like others where we’re showing art at an art festival.<\/p>\n

We’re in Toledo, Oregon, the place we’ve been the last two Februarys making art. This time it’s to show it. Haven’t sold any. Maybe the day didn’t start with enough prayers. Not that prayers were neglected, just didn’t remember that subject. And I did earn some gas money, offering my five-minute portraits for ten dollars to passers by. That was fun. Then there was the artist’s presentation mid-day where Anne and I and a few others spoke to an audience about “our journey.”<\/p>\n

In a sense it was a day representative of the life: Time with God, time with friends, painting, speaking, and (right now) writing. Add to that, travel, and what more could one want . . . but maybe quality time with spouse, and that’s happened too!<\/p>\n

All this and, I’m affirmed, God is for me!<\/p>\n

I’ll drink to that!!!<\/p>\n

This morning I opened an e-mail from a friend, one Becky, who with her husband is part of our weekly home group. All in the group are scholars in their way, and some are poets. Becky’s one. Here’s her greeting:<\/p>\n

The calendar has decreed<\/strong>
\n the page must be turned<\/strong>
\n you stand at the threshold of new decade<\/strong>
\n no scrambling to complete exploits on a bucket list<\/strong>
\n because, of course, you are Hyatt.<\/strong>
\n Jettisoning the detritus of life<\/strong>
\n you continue the continuum.<\/strong>
\n Introspection<\/strong>
\n circumspection<\/strong>
\n going back to the beginning<\/strong>
\n distilling life down to the essence.<\/strong>
\n Jesus\/you<\/strong><\/p>\n

So…Happy Birthday to you!!\u00a0<\/strong>To have a weekly front row seat to a life well considered, well lived and shared with honesty and creativity, is a gift.\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you, dear friend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And thank you Becky. Words are the best gift. They came from others too, and especially Anne, too precious to share.<\/p>\n

I’m grateful. And very rich.<\/p>\n

Now, onward and upward. Where we’re headed is God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, this is the last one on this topic, but I thought I should complete it, this being the actual day.<\/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\/7648"}],"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=7648"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7662,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7648\/revisions\/7662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}