By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
As I promised recently, I managed to put aside any feelings of guilt or selfishness and went full speed ahead with a celebration of my 79th birthday. We did cut back on the crowd, however, with only 30 family members and friends on hand.
I admitted that day on Facebook that I’m much older than I ever expected to be. My next goal is 80…then 81…then 82… and so on. To be honest, my goal is to do as well as my grandmother Minnie who made it to 100.
But the strangest thing happened to me on this birthday. Instead of enjoying, even savoring, every moment of the five-hour extravaganza, I found myself often reflecting on absent family members and friends who were not so blessed to live this long.
I kept having flashbacks of the friends I’ve lost from childhood, from high school, from college, from military service, and from my careers in journalism and higher education. I miss their company and I’ll always be sad that they didn’t live this long or even longer.
But the reality is that time keeps marching on and I’m trying to keep up the pace, despite a knee in need of replacement.
I am grateful for my family obligations, my part-time job, my love of writing, my volunteer service to community organizations, my church duties and responsibilities, and my opportunity to publish another book which just hit the online order portals of Amazon and the Jesse Stuart Foundation (jsfbooks.com).
If the good Lord’s willing, I might be writing a third book, perhaps even a screenplay of that great novel I have yet to sell to a publisher.
Most of all, I am deeply grateful to the kindly souls who took the time to remember this old “Papaw” with a hug, a kiss, a Facebook post, a cellphone text message, cherry pie, cookies or a card.
I know I am blessed beyond measure. Thank you, Lord, for all of it.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com
