A Reality Check on "OLD"

I know, life gives you some reality checks when you start GETTING old, but there are some good moments to learn lots earlier that we sometimes want.

One of my first came in Zilker Park in Austin, in the swimming area then called Barton Springs.

Coldest water in the world!  My great-aunt came for a visit, and wanted to swim a bit, so the whole family went.  I was 10 at the time, and Laura was about 60.  (In 10-year-old-eyes, that is OLD!!!)   I waited on the long sidewalk as Laura came out of the bath-house, then we walked to the edge.

"Let's race across", she said with a grin.  I thought:  "this is NO challenge."  But I remember being polite about it.  Toes at the edge of the pavement, we both dove and hit the water at the same instant.  It was SO COLD that I couldn't catch my breath, finally stood, and looked across at Laura stroking smoothly half-way across.  No way to catch her, so I followed along.

"Race back?"  she said.  "Sure!"  This time we started even, a standing start.  No competition.  She pulled easily away AGAIN.  She waited, smiling at the bank where we'd started, and said (kindly) "You might be pretty good with practice, you know."

I was a kid, with a kid's little inexperienced world, so sure that the small, red-haired woman I was talking to was as old as the hills!  Looking back at me with a world of understanding was Laura, director of Women's Physical Education and coach of the swim team at Tarleton College in Stephenville.

The lesson started then, but it took a long time to learn it (like every kid and most grown-ups) that: 'older than me is not over the hill'.

Laura loved teaching, loved physical competition, and she was (some years later) younger at 85 than some folks are at 30.  She understood that faith is all about abundant life, and that kind of life just keeps growing and getting better, day after day.  Her faith was not just about going-to-heaven-when-I-die;  her faith was about being every ounce alive in every day that God gives.

And THAT is a reality check on getting older!