For the past few years my husband and I have marveled—in horror—at how quickly our youth seems to be deserting us. We thought things started to go downhill after age 35, but how naïve we were! Aging after 50 is like the downside of a roller coaster compared to the more leisurely downward trend we experienced after 35.
It’s through aging that we met “Shirley.” Shirley is, of course, from the movie Airplane with Leslie Nielsen. In one memorable scene Leslie Nielsen asks in the deadpan style he became known for if the afraid-to-fly character Striker can fly and land this plane. Striker says: “Surely you can’t be serious.” To which Nielsen responds, “I am serious. And please don’t call me Shirley.” (To watch the YouTube clip, click here.)
As my husband and I get older, we’re saying the following more and more:
For me:
Surely I can walk in any kind of shoe.
Surely I can read without my glasses.
Surely I locked the front door before coming up here to bed.
Surely I can remember why I came into this room.
For my husband:
Surely I can still play basketball/volleyball/baseball.
Surely I can recall where I left my glasses, so I can read the newspaper. (Should I tell you about the time he was looking for his glasses and they were on his head?)
Surely I can do pilates to ease my back pain without experiencing vertigo.
Surely I can consume peas, shrimp, and wine all in one meal without getting gout…(Well, that only happened once, but ever since he’s been careful about certain combinations.)
These are just a few of the “surelys” that have become the “Shirleys” in our life. We surely know we can no longer do what we could do even a few short years ago. Most of the time we still feel far too young for so many surelys. What will it be like in ten more years? Or, gulp, twenty or thirty?
Sigh.
Oh well, at least we get to face our Shirley moments together. And we both look forward to Heaven a little more, when the surelys will turn into things like:
Surely we can rejoice in seeing so many of our loved ones.
Surely we can visit with so many other Saints.
Surely we can listen to the angels sing.
Surely we can see God.
So welcome to another week. Surely we can get through another one with more praises than complaints!
Join Me!