Sunrise. Sunset.

Our church had it's annual Family Camp this past weekend, beginning on the Friday evening and drawing to a close on Sunday afternoon. This weekend was a special time, spent with very special people, people who have become a part of our family.

As a new bride and a newcomer to our city, I was akin to a child on her first day of school, nervous and unsure of her welcome. I soon made new friends, friends who to this day, remain close to our family. I also found a new family in my husband's aunts, uncles and cousins and their families, and I found a new church home, a family of faith who have become an important and vital part of our life. With shared faith and prayer, we have woven together a tapestry of friendship, love, support, and encouragement.

Perhaps one of the aspects I loved most about this time, was watching the children, seeing their joy and their excitement. hearing their laughter and watching their smiles burst forth, like sunshine on a rainy day.

Last year at camp, a special couple were expecting their first child. This year their son made his first appearance at church camp, and as the only baby there, and an adorable baby at that, held a captive audience with young and old alike. Over the years I have watched our babies become toddlers, toddlers turn into elementary age children, and elementary age children become junior highs, who then transform into senior highs, and senior highs venturing out onto new pathways, some now classified as young adults, young marrieds, and young families. The years seemingly having flown by with little notice taken, until that day when your own baby walks up to receive his high school diploma, and the road you have placidly been traveling for the past eighteen years, takes on a totally different direction and dimension.

The song "Sunrise, Sunset" from the beloved musical Fiddler On The Roof profoundly captures this sentiment with the following lyrics:

 "Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older, when did they? Sunrise. Sunset. Sunrise. Sunset. Swiftly fly the years. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears." 

Yes, when did they grow up so quickly? I see my eldest approaching young adulthood, and my youngest with only two years to go before she too will leave her childhood years behind, and venture into life's new territory, and I weep at time's progressive and relentless march forward, and yet rejoice at the gift of every new day.

I find myself now in my mid forties, an age that in my callow youth would have been perceived as already quite over the hill and headed towards antiquity, and yet now I cling to every drop of breath my forties yields as a fragile thread tenuously holding me to that land before time, before time's tides sweep me into the next half century of life.

Don't get me wrong, there are a number of things about aging that I enjoy, not the least of which is, that if I am still here to lament growing older, then I am still alive and breathing, and gifted with more time to accomplish the dreams and wishes of the heart. I enjoy the relative maturity that time has brought and that indelible sense of comfortableness in who I have become. I enjoy watching my children grow and search out their own identities and begin their own dreams, while I begin to dream again and wonder at what life now has in store for me. I have watched my parents, though not always having an easy time of it, live a rich "retired" life, surrounded by family and good friends and travel and new experiences, and I hope to have a little of that for my husband and myself. There is still much to be enjoyed and discovered about myself and others, and I do look forward to that, and am always aware that the sands of time are slowly sifting away.

With age I have inherited a new vocabulary, and have ventured into areas previously considered foreign territory. I've discovered the term "arctic blonde" of which I, whose heritage lies in the Indian subcontinent, now have apparently become, my dark locks now woven with moonlight's rays. A form of chemical warfare known as "highlights" has become a part of my aging vocabulary, and I find myself joining the waves of Indians who have suddenly and quite unexpectedly started to sprout gold and red tints in their once black hair. In a fit of rebelliousness, I thought to age naturally and gracefully, and to let my "arctic blondes" frame my face and shine to their hearts content, until vanity proved too much, and the lady in the mirror sent me scurrying to book an appointment with a colorist as fast as possible. I did try a return to my youthful black hair, but instead of rediscovering the youthful me, found in her place an Indian version of Elvira. Needless to say, another appointment with the colorist was booked!

But hair has not been the only marking of time, there is now the aches and pains and groans that accompany them that have become new companions, and where health was once not even given a cursory glimpse, now seems to be a constant point of contemplation. Then there is that wonderful gift of Peri Menopause that can apparently grace ones life for a few years to help you prepare for the main event, the theme of "Rocky" now playing in my head. The fresh bloom of youth has begun to lose its glow. Body parts that I could once blithely ignore, have now taken on new importance, who knew how useful knees and backs are to ones mobility? Memory has become elusive, and names, places and time play games of hide and go seek along my synapsis.

Many find this a triumphant time, a time to run marathons, to hike Mount Kilimanjaro, to take up soccer, and try other adventurous avenues. I unfortunately, still have that gene latent in my being or completely missing in action, and would much rather not do any of those afore mentioned activities, but take a more leisurely and less strenuous approach to living and aging.

Sunrises are beautiful, but equally so are sunsets. When I look at the wisdom and character that life gives to those who have seen many sunrises and sunsets, I see beauty and lessons learned and lived. I see so many stories and experiences to be heard, shared and noted down.

As I see the faces of my babies transposed over their current images, I wonder, as the lyrics sing "What words of wisdom can I give them. How can I help to ease their way?" What will the sunrises and sunsets of the years to come hold in store for them? What lessons will they learn, and what stories will be written in the tablets of their lives. 

The last day of camp dawned cool and overcast, as we set out for the nearby lake. We watched as two of our teenagers accompanied by one's grandfather, and our youth pastor, waded through the frigid shallow waters of the lake, and before the assembly of congregation members, were baptized. For them, a new sunrise had begun, and watching the grandfather baptize his granddaughter, I wondered how beautiful it must have been for him to be there, and to offer her the wisdom from a faith lived well, through many sunrises and sunsets.  I looked at the rest of the assembly around me, and noted their expressions of joy and wonder, as many of us recalled these two as newborns and toddlers, as young elementary children, junior highs, and now senior highs. We were all bound together in faith, prayer, memory, hopes and wishes. I don't know how time will work on this image and memory, but I hope that it will remain as clear as it was that day. I hope that for the younger ones, it left an indelible impression, and for us older ones, a beautiful picture of sunrises and sunsets and faith's precious gift.

For us "older" ones, take a moment to spend time with the little ones in your life, and the not so little ones. To listen to them and to hear them. To enjoy their joy and youthful exuberance. Wonder at the enjoyment they find in simple things, and in life itself. And to those young people who might read this, make time and get to know the "elders" in your life. Hear their stories and learn from their wisdom and experiences, there is wealth and richness there. Listen to the musical score of their life, the heights and depths, the soaring parts, and those that gently meander. Sift through the layers and dynamics and find relevance, truth, humor, love, faith, tears, anger, joy and LIFE. Sunrise, Sunset, and a wealth of Life in between.