3 B's Plus One

Nine of us went out for lunch on Sunday at El Tule in Lambertville. The occasion was a celebration of my upcoming birthday. What was great about it was that all of my boys could be there with their significant others, plus my stepson (whom I also consider to be one of the "Foster Boys") came up from D.C. to join us. Afterward we came back to the house and celebrated some more with cake, butterscotch pudding, sugar cookies, a game, music, and hanging out by the fire. A great time was had by all and I can't think of anything I'd rather have done for my birthday than that!

As I'm getting older and am aware that I have more years behind me than in front of me, times like that have magnified in their significance and meaning to me. The aging process seems to emphasize the importance of relationships with family and friends. Being surrounded by all those young people with their youthful energy and laughter, without a word being said about it, their hopes and dreams for their lives emanated from their presence. The word uplifting does not capture the full essence of it!

Of course, I hope to have many more years on this planet myself, and as far as I can tell at the moment, I will. But my hopes and dreams are different at this stage of life than they were when I was younger. In fact, I’ve managed to come up with a simple formula that I call “3 B’s Plus One.” I shared it with the group on Sunday. It goes like this: Be happy! Be healthy! Be nice! And the plus one is Be rich! (though I’m not sure how that one can work out).

But on the other hand, dollars and cents aside, I am rich! I have a great wife, a great family, great friends, a great place to live, great health and well-being, a great church in which to continue to use some of my professional skills, great opportunity to live out the gift of a contemplative life, and great memories of many wonderful people, moments, and events!

So maybe any of you reading this might want to think about how rich you are too.

I’ll leave it at that.