The Circle of Life

Today is my birthday. The first week in this new year of my life is filled with practically every life-cycle event imaginable. A friend called to let me know her son and daughter-in-law had a new baby boy this week and asked me to join them at the bris. In a short while, I will head to the local Jewish Center to help celebrate a bat mitzvah. Tomorrow, there is a funeral for a friend's mother died yesterday after a very long illness. On this day, I feel like I am in the middle of a whirlpool, surrounded and embraced by all of these events.

Yesterday, I called our family's favorite special occasion restaurant to make a reservation. The maitre d' knows my family and we caught up on the news of pending marriages of the then children, now young adults. We spoke about the perspective we have up here on this mountain of the aged. It is frightening, kind of like peering over a cliff.

Though I am definitely more vibrant and active than my parents were at my age, I wonder if my children, nieces and nephews think of me as an ancient. In some ways, I think they don't. On the other hand, it would be nice to be accorded the respect of a venerable elder.