I don't want to be the last man standing

"I don't want to be the last man standing . . . . well, on second thought, maybe I do."

The ageless Willie Nelson is about to turn 85, and in his latest song he reflects on his survival after so many of his friends and collaborators in the Country Music business have passed on. Characteristically, it's an upbeat melody and lyrics like the above excerpt do seem to well express his wry sensibility.

I'm at least a dozen years younger than Willie, but it seems that I'm also at that stage of life where memories threaten to crowd out plans and ambitions. Still, it's possible to find purpose, an ongoing mission even in our twilight years. For Willie Nelson it's his music, a gift for which we all are thankful. For me, it's coping with the affliction weighing on our two daughters, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Ensuring their present care and that their future needs are met will require that "last full measure of devotion" from my wife and me. Many other families we have come to know are in the same situation, we offer each other comfort and support on this difficult journey.

And even setting that great task aside for a moment (all I can afford), I hear Tennyson whispering to me, "All experience is an arch wherethro' gleams the untravell'd world." I want to enter that world and explore it, right up to the moment when I am "promoted to glory." (My irreligious cousin coined that expression, which I treasure.)