When You’re Old, “The Best Is Yet to Come” is a Crock
Robert Browning got it wrong.
You may recognize the words in the title of this article as being written by Robert Browning. It’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s also a crock. The first part, “Come grow old with me’, is fine. Growing old is unavoidable. It helps to have someone take the journey with you. The second part of Browning’s statement, “the best is yet to come”, is very problematic.
My wife and I married when we were very young. We’ve been married for 45 years. We’ve been 20 and we’ve been 60. Twenty is better. I can’t say things just keep getting better. They are better than they would be if I was by myself, but 20 was better.
Tomorrow, we’re juggling doctors’ appointments. Forty years ago we wouldn’t have had two doctor’s appointments in a year. My wife’s health is sketchy. She’s had a lot of hospital stays. It’s to the point that seeing her in the hospital constitutes a date.
When we travel together, we have to factor in our age. We do well to have one of us awake at any given time while on a road trip. Ideally the one driving is the one that is awake.
Getting ready for to face the day is exhausting. By the time I get up, shower, shave, brush my teeth and take my meds, I’m wiped out. It’s nap time. That didn’t happen when…
