A Personal Letter From Roxy
Can you believe we’re more than halfway through another year?! Wow! If you’re like me you find yourself writing the previous month's date for the first week or so at the beginning of each new month! It seems we just started the last month when another month arrives! Time does seem to fly by.
Summer’s End Means Transitions & Change
We are nearing the end of another summer and most schools are in session (by the time you read this). Our eldest grandson, Lucas, is in 6th grade which in my era was the end of grade school but now is the beginning of middle school.
He’s facing new surroundings and expectations in a new school and is now the “low man” on the totem pole and is adjusting to the change. He’s no longer at his younger brother, Gavin’s school which means mom now has two schools to deliver to and pick up from at two different times, and Gavin can no longer know that big brother is nearby.
He’s also in those pre-pubescent years when you still need mom but aren’t sure if it’s ok to show it, and when having stinky armpits, stinky feet, and the beginning of hair growth is cool! And having achy muscles or even a bruise or two is a badge of honor from your latest sporting event.
Changes are coming which brings pride and fear to mom and dad as well as excitement—life is on the upward trend with much to look forward to!
Our eldest grandson, Lucas.
It’s a Special Season—Don’t Miss It!
Mamaw & pappaw (that would be me and Dr. Madsen) look forward to time spent making memories with the “grands” around work and school schedules. We know that soon enough the “grands” will be too busy with their social life as they grow into young adulthood to do some of the fun and goofy things that had been done in times past.
The joys of time spent with our to-date grandsons (yes, I’m still hoping for a granddaughter :) are the fact that, as grandparents, we have the privilege of balancing between sharing the wisdom of the years with them while knowing that essentially our job is to keep them happy and safe.
We can leave the major life lessons to mom and dad lol! Because, you guessed it, staying up later than usual and eating pretty much whatever they want whenever they want (with some oversight, of course!) are typical activities when with mamaw and papaw.
All this to say: It’s a special season with awesome opportunities to share with a newer generation than our own. It must and does take priority in our lives—time is flying by, remember!
Change Marches Forward, Like It or Not
What other changes have arrived you say? Well, the good doctor is now on Medicare! What?!
How can that be? 65 ushers in the requirement like it or not! Thankfully he is very healthy and not in need of using it.
As change marches forward for the younger generation, we have now become the older generation and are talking about the “latter years” which in all honesty is quite weird but necessary!
When do we start collecting Social Security? How long do we continue to work? What kind of things do we plan or want to do in the next 20-ish years and, of course, how much money will that require?
We spent last weekend with my older sister whose husband has retired as of June 1 and my Yale University professor aunt who is not quite 77-years-old with no intention of retiring at this point.
When Will We Retire? Good Question!
What about Dr. Madsen & Roxy you ask? When is retirement for us? Well, as you may have heard me share before—retirement is not really in my husband’s vocabulary! His thought is: “If you like what you do and are still able to do it, why quit?” So, you heard right—no retirement in our near future! God willing, maybe at 75!!
Am I a bit jealous of my ever-traveling- sister and brother-in-law with endless time to spend with their “grands”? Yes, a bit. But life is good, there are choices for all of us to make and special times to make a priority and so we will. So I say to you: stay active, stay healthy, stay youthful, and always consider how your choices will affect your wellbeing—let’s not miss those special times and wish we hadn’t!
You Can’t Control Change, But You Can Control Your Relationship With It
Life brings ongoing change both externally, physically, and experientially! It’s inevitable but not always completely uncontrollable—or, in other words, our response to the changes is the part that is controllable.
We cannot stop the clock physically but we can slow down evidence of the clock ticking AND we can choose how we respond to the changes! So, while we consider changes we want to make to decrease that evidence with aesthetic treatments let’s not forget to think about the choices we make experientially with activities and interactions with people in our lives. How will the treatments I may choose to have effect my life experience with others?
As you may have gathered, family and friends are hugely important to me and I want to make the most of the opportunities I have with them. Does anyone know the song, “We may never pass this way again?” It’s true. Each day is full of new mercies and blessings and life experience possibilities for that day not to be repeated! Let’s not let them pass us by!
We love hearing about your life experiences and even challenges with inevitable change and we love helping you slow down the evidence of the physical changes when we can! They are both important to your well being! As long as you choose to come, we will be here to live life with you….at least for the next 10 years! Lol
Roxy.