Saturday morning I woke feeling the aches and pains of aging. My first thought was, "It's Saturday. I''m gonna drink some tea and go back to bed." But I had a busy day planned. So I popped some anti-inflammatory and proceeded with the day.
My morning was all about being a mom - fix breakfast, start the laundry, clean the house, get other people to help me clean the house, go to Hamilton's soccer game. I persisted through all of this while the anti-inflammatory did it's job.
Half way through Hamilton's game I had to go to a HOBY conference. A few weeks ago I was asked to be on a service panel and present opportunities for service to the youth at this conference. There were five other people on the panel all representing service organizations. My responsibility was to represent Rotary International and it's youth programs. I arrived as the youth were just coming back in from lunch. The room filled with happy energy as they entered the room. An hour was spent on talking about local service opportunities and the global connection rotary has to offer. When we were finished the youth were given an opportunity to sign up for service. I think they signed up for everything. They have 'service fever'.
While I was sitting on the panel looking out into the faces of these young people it occurred to me that if I had given into the aches and pains of aging I would've missed this moment. We are in charge of us, I am in charge of me. As we conquer our tired and selfish nature we open the door to amazing things.
