In Ten Years' Time
Lessons in Life School (Lesson 11)
Play to Listen.
The lessons keep coming as I live thousands of variations of a single day, sometimes with so little change that I am baffled by boredom and other days so overcome with the richness of Life that I can hardly stand it.
Decades
I’m quite fascinated about the various chapters we live in a single life-time (“Are they chapters or full lives-within-a -life?” I wonder). Anyhow, as my own children are of the age where everything happens at lightning speed - even though it seems to go so slowly - I have been musing yet again about how MUCH can happen in a decade. In the case of my kids that means the difference between a 19-year old version and a 29-year old version of Alec and, likewise, 21 and 31 year old versions of Adam.
Who knows WHAT will transpire for them in these next ten years? I certainly don’t, but I do know it could be ANYTHING. For example, our youngest Alec is now becoming quite serious about studying abroad for a year. He’s got his sights on Netherlands! Such a decision could influence thousands of decisions and life-experiences in the course of a year, and ultimately create a very interesting and exciting decade that would follow.
I know that when I was 22 I headed to France for a summer, and that experience likely influenced many other choices, beliefs, and experiences since. I am fifty-six these days, and fascinated with how much Life School has to teach us from one decade to the next. The lessons keep coming as I live thousands of variations of a single day, sometimes with so little change that I am baffled by boredom and other days so overcome with the richness of Life that I can hardly stand it.
What are the threads of your life? What are your lessons? And what astounds you as you consider the You you were ten years ago or the You you will be years from now?
And NOW for your READING enJOYment, a poem written originally in September 2012 when I pondered my life in decades (and a final verse added in 2022):
When I am six and fifty. . .
1972
When I was six my family lived in the Wisconsin countryside -
population 500 -
near our church and a graveyard.
Down the hill was a dairy farm with
cows and chickens and friends my age.
Days were spent with my older sister,
mostly swinging or riding my bike
on the gravel driveway.
I wrote my first poem then - “Piggy Piggy”
1982
When I was six and ten we lived in small-town Iowa:
Population 1600.
I was anxiously awaiting getting my driver’s license,
hated my weight and worried about friends.
Still, I loved acting in the plays and musicals,
and wrote poetry about nature and love and boys.
1992
When I was six and twenty, I lived in a Swiss-town in Wisconsin.
Population 10,000.
I loved the thrill of teaching en français et en englais.
Best of all, I was deeply in love with the substitute teacher.
I believed he was “the one” -
and he was!
2002
When I was six and thirty, I lived in the Promised Land of Wisconsin
(according to our pastor).
Population 100,000.
My life had been consumed with love and teaching and church and dogs
until it became consumed with trying to “have a family.”
Life was full and empty at the same time.
2012
Now I am six and forty and living near Seoul, South Korea.
Population 10 million plus.
My husband is graying,
my daughter’s feet are nearly as big as mine.
My son needs a haircut
and they both dream of having a cat.
I swim and bike and do yoga and Zumba.
I teach English and learn Korean
and try to make a difference in the lives of N. Korean Refugees.
I write poetry and teach it and wonder what life will be
When I am six and fifty.
(September 23, 2012)
2022
Now I am six and fifty and the world still reels from a global pandemic.
I once again live in the shadow of Lambeau,
Population 107,000, after a seven-year adventure in Hong Kong
(population 7.5 million) There, children became young adults
and I taught my last lessons.
Now my family is scattered about North America
As I learn a new way of being in the dawn of an empty nest.
I play the gong and write Life Cheat Cheats
And learn Surrender and practice unconditional love.
At six and fifty my poems become a portal to Truth
And I a mere channel - grateful. Ever Grateful.
So curious about life-to-be at six and sixty.
(September 2022)
Copyright 2023
Dynamic Life
Now as I think about myself and others at these different decade points, I also realize how, in some ways, I am an entirely new person. Literally ever cell has been replaced several times over since my birth (roughly every 7 years you have generated entirely new cells according to science, and 330 billion cells are replaced every day). While I still enjoy many of the same hobbies, my food preferences have shifted, my world views have widened, my sense of Self has altered and expanded. Yes, my parents are my parents and we share a family history. Yes, my husband is my husband and we share a family history. But with the many comings and goings and residency in different cultures as well as parenting children through different stages of life, I can barely think of myself as the same individual from one decade to the next.
And that’s okay.
In one way it is simply a reminder that change is always happening. Changes in my body, my beliefs, my experiences and my interpretation of them are constantly occurring. It’s hardly a surprise, then, when others around me change or a landscape or environment changes or systems are altered or changed. It is the nature of the universe, after all, to be in such a dynamic state. (And far more interesting to live a life this way, if you ask me.) So, Life the Universe and Everything is constantly changing and teaching me how to be accepting of - even expecting - change as the decades unfold.
How are you absorbing the passage of the decades and change in its many forms?
You can find all of my series in the archives:
Adulting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents
Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly
Me-Time: Self-care in the time of Covid
Reasons for Hope
From Fog to Flow
With a Grateful Heart
Lessons in Life School
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Writer. Gong Player. Teacher.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com
On Instagram @applebb09
All photos by © Brenda Brayko 2023 unless otherwise credited.
I have a Midlife songs playlist. Good to read. Shared photo with your bro in law.
Another inspirational read. . . keep up the good work!