Getting Older (1/6/01)

I am getting older! 

At this time of year, many people reflect on the past and look to the future.  As the holiday season has ended, the heavy rains, and a round of head colds having put a damper on many of our holiday plans, I can’t help but feel a bit melancholy.  The Christmas decorations are back in their boxes, to await another year.  The “glow” of the season is past.  Things are getting back to normal.  And tomorrow is my birthday.

 

Recently, while trying to determine the dose of cough medicine, I found myself beginning to experience things that I thought were reserved for the “older population”.  I found myself trying to read the very fine print on those little sample bottles of medicine; first with my glasses, then without my glasses, the bottle about two inches from my right eye, and finally with a magnifying glass.  It is obvious that the inevitable bifocals are just around the corner.

 

Becky has many times accused me of selective listening.  At times, she has been right, but in recent years, I find myself thinking that the device advertised on television, “The Clarifier”, is what I need.  Sounds all seem to blend together into background static.  When that is added to the echo in our home, the kids playing, and rain hitting the roof, I really can’t hear!

 

It used to be that I would ask myself, with some concern, “Why does this hurt?”  Now I ask myself, “What else will be hurting tomorrow?”  It used to be that I only talked to patients based on what I had learned in medical school or from reading books.  Now, as the collection of creams and ointments, tablets and capsules in the medicine cabinet grows, I am becoming even more familiar with their uses and side effects.  I presently find myself talking to more and more patients from personal experience!

 

I have also noticed that the majority of my patients are younger than I am.  Even those that “look mature” are frequently younger than I.  Now, to be fair, the Hondurans do tend to age faster, and have a shorter life expectancy than we do in the US.  But I am often referred to as “Don David”, the title reserved for “the elders”.

 

And when I returned from our summer in The States of eating many wonderful meals at different homes and restaurants, more than one person told me that I was “bien gordo”!  The closest equivalent in English is “pleasingly plump”.  This is considered a compliment, for to have the appearance of being overweight in Honduras is desirable as a sign of wealth.  As I checked the scales, I really had not gained that much, and even as I have lost some of the excess, the new “rolls” here and there seem to persist.

 

So as the reality of my advancing age sinks in, and I celebrate another birthday, I wonder if I will follow all those recommendations I used to give my “older” patients about some of those not so pleasant medical exams and tests.  I do have a few years yet to decide and hope for more pleasant medical technology to come along before then.

 

I realize that my childhood dreams of being an astronaut, professional baseball player, or olympic bicycler are truly dead and gone.  But even as my physical prime is past, I still see myself growing spiritually, mentally and emotionally.  This is more than fair compensation for the failing of the physical body.  

 

I have no real sense of loss.  I am more content than I ever have been.  I am with my family, where God has called us, accomplishing His purpose.  Here in Honduras, I am not only one doctor among many possible choices.  Rather, in many cases, I am the only choice.  My life does make a difference.  The opportunities to serve are many.

 

So, as I look forward to yet reaching my “prime”, I truly do experience the Joy of Jesus, and look forward to immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. (see Ephesians 3:20)

 

Dave Drozek with

 

Thoughts from Honduras