Transitions

It only took a fall. A broken hip. Then everything changed.

Now, my mother-in-law is transitioning from independent to assisted living. As we have cleared out her apartment and moved her to a new place, we have stumbled upon tokens of a lifetime of memories.

As part of the greatest generation, my mother-in-law has lived through the Great Depression, has been a wife to a soldier before, during, and after World War Two and mother to baby-boomers. Since late 2008, she felt compelled to write down some memories of these, which have enjoyed many visitors in cyberspace:

Cherry Blossoms
The Great Depression 1929 - 1945
The Great Depression 1929 - 1945 Part Two
World War Two - before, during, and after
Memories of Japan

Thoughts of the brevity of life bring me to the following poem I wrote 30 years ago ... and it seems like yesterday when I penned this one.

On Mortality

Moment by moment
A blur in the mind
Time slips away
Where none shall find

Come back! Oh, days,
Which long have past!
Hold to a moment,
Which flees so fast!

That which was done
Shall ever more be
A shadow that only
The mind can see

© August 1980 S. K. Smith

As this 92 years old lives out her latest chapter, I am comforted by this blog post: Why You Aren't Dead Yet.
The best is yet to come.
The following Psalm is for all ages as we transition through the various stages of life:

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Psalm 71:17-19 (King James Version)
Photo courtesy of everystockphoto.com: Handprint