Life is always evolving. Mine has, Susan’s has, Gretchen’s has.
We evolved into a new house in Dallas, together. We now live in the Lair, together, all day, every day.
I’ve been practicing Vedic Meditation about five years and I
have found the practice amazingly fulfilling, it keeps me centered and keeps me
curious. The ancient Vedic people teach
that life is always evolving, and we are always in a state of creation,
maintenance or destruction.
You must live it all, you can fight evolution but it’s going to happen with or without your acceptance, fighting evolution, fighting creation, fighting maintenance, fighting destruction makes it all more difficult.
Susan, Gretchen and I have all experienced this evolution. We all lived through some major destruction in our lives and we now get to work on creating some new space, some new things in our life and it felt right to move to Dallas for all three of us, a new space, a new chance, a new way of living.
You all know my story. Marty, my wife of 43 years died in 2019, the result of two strokes suffered 14 years before she passed. Over those 14 years we saw a lot of destruction, we craved some maintenance, and amid it all we found a way to create a new relationship, a new path, a new way of living that opened our eyes and hour hearts to new and different parts of life.
Susan spent several years seeing her old life, one she thought was going in one direction, get changed, get destroyed by Alzheimer’s. Bill, her husband of almost 40 years, struggled with Alzheimer’s for several years before he passed about three years ago. That was very real, painful destruction. It couldn’t have been changed or altered; it could only be accepted.
Gretchen, Susan’s baby sister, not quite 70, lived through some major destruction of her own as her 30 year marriage died. She was forced to make major life changes and some choices she didn’t want to make. She made the changes; she evolved and went to live with Susan and Bill to help Susan manage Bill’s illness.
The three of us now find ourselves in northwest Dallas in the Lake Highlands area in a 50-year-old house across the street from my son and his family and about five minutes from my daughter and her family. Being this close takes me one step closer to my lifelong goal of being a burden on my children.
We looked at a lot of houses made offers on a couple of places that didn’t work out and then we found the one across from Matt and company. My daughter had told me the most satisfied home buyers like their neighborhood. I like this neighborhood, so I look to be very satisfied with where we are.
I get this all looks and sounds a bit weird. Three seniors, three senior dogs and a cat who thinks she’s a dog does sound more like a sit com than real life.
But it is real life. I walked into this deal eyes wide open knowing of the challenges we will all face as we incorporate three lives and households into one. I thought about this whole thing for a long time and concluded this could be an exciting new path to walk. It just seemed to be the right thing.
I’m going to write about our journey in our new home. I’m thinking about calling MTV and proposing a new Real-World series, “Real World Baby Boomers Edition – They just won’t go away”.
The whole thing is a bit of trip and just as I thought we have charted a new path for all three of us. I’m glad I’m on this trail with Susan, and with Gretchen.
It’s a new life for an old man.
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