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Old age slips up on you in a snap of a finger

Posted on 06/09/2024 4:09:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson

I don't remember when I got old, it just happened. One day I turned around and discovered I was an old man. Thinking back on it I think it was after my wife died. When Sheila died it took all the wind out of my sails. I'm now adrift, without rudder, without anchor and without a North Star. The bilge water is creeping up and threatening to put the fires out for good.

If you've ever experienced being dead in the water in the middle of an ocean, that's how I'm feeling right now. It's a surreal feeling.

'O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.'


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: freerepublic; hugs; jimrobinson; morehugs; oldage; prayers; withyoujim
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To: Jim Robinson

Praying that God will give you an even better rudder. He does the impossible, you know.


121 posted on 06/09/2024 6:15:51 PM PDT by gitmo
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To: Jim Robinson
"I'm now adrift, without rudder, without anchor and without a North Star. The bilge water is creeping up and threatening to put the fires out for good."

Jim, I didn't know Sheila passed. I'm so sorry. Hang in there old Shipmate. You and many others did some good stuff with FR activism. You made a difference, so keep that in your Heart when thinking of Sheila. She was proud of you and told me so in a conversation.

122 posted on 06/09/2024 6:20:13 PM PDT by A Navy Vet (USA Birth Certificate - 1787. Death Certificate - 2021? )
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To: gitmo

All I can say about age is, when I reached 90 I stopped counting.


123 posted on 06/09/2024 6:20:23 PM PDT by WVNan
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To: Jim Robinson

At age 71, I find that I’m praying more than I ever have in my life.

What I tell people is that in times of trouble you want to get as close to God as you can.

He likes you better when you do that


124 posted on 06/09/2024 6:22:36 PM PDT by ckilmer
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To: Reno89519

Lose it on the head, gain it in the ears and nose, it all works out.


125 posted on 06/09/2024 6:25:46 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: metmom

Ha! Mine are over TWICE my age when I had them. Scary!


126 posted on 06/09/2024 6:27:47 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist .)
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To: ckilmer
At age 71, I find that I’m praying more than I ever have in my life.

That was my plan, but I haven't pushed in as I should. I determined today to redouble my efforts.

What I tell people is that in times of trouble you want to get as close to God as you can.

Absocottonpickinlutely.

127 posted on 06/09/2024 6:29:32 PM PDT by gitmo
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To: Jim Robinson

I woke up in a hospital after being in a drug induced coma after 5 weeks not knowing where I was. I aged at least 10 years and now am old Jim.

Where did our time go? I worked thru it all until work nearly killed me.


128 posted on 06/09/2024 6:30:07 PM PDT by The Mayor (Dear Jesus, please help me to follow Your example and extend kindness when I’ve been wronged)
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To: WVNan

God love you Nan!


129 posted on 06/09/2024 6:32:55 PM PDT by The Mayor (Dear Jesus, please help me to follow Your example and extend kindness when I’ve been wronged)
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To: Jim Robinson

* “Your gonna have to kill me” - Cool Hand Luke

* John Chapter 4.


130 posted on 06/09/2024 6:35:22 PM PDT by Varsity Flight ( "War by 🙏 the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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To: WVNan

YOU ... are our shining example!

God bless and keep you, dear FRiend.


131 posted on 06/09/2024 6:37:54 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
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To: Jim Robinson

Jim, I read this as a cry of a tired man. Do you think it’s time to retire? Are we getting to be too much? I remember that when the apostiles were at sea and afraid the Good Lord walked out to them.

Here in land locked Minnesota, the sea frightens me. I like to jump into a 70 degree lake, or sit along a crick, seeing the shore at all times.

I was never married and at 63 yo I am really missing all that a loving marriage has to offer. Children, a spouse, somebody near you at night, year after year. I watch the couples at church, silently sitting next to each other. Its a union that I can’t put words to. You were blessed. Hang onto that love. Barb.


132 posted on 06/09/2024 6:42:28 PM PDT by BarbM (Men who look at porn are impotent for God.)
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To: HartleyMBaldwin
“If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”

OTOH, “If I'd known how great Heaven would be, I wouldn't have bothered with all that health food. Tasted like cardboard!”

133 posted on 06/09/2024 6:42:39 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (Either ‘the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the Deep State.’ --Donald Trump)
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To: Jim Robinson

This might help you: When my bff died of cancer, I said to my priest that it was like a hole in my heart that I can’t refill. He said that was exactly right. Jenny is gone, and only in Heaven will we be reunited. In Heaven we will have perfect happiness and love. The more holes, the more we have loved.


134 posted on 06/09/2024 6:44:39 PM PDT by BarbM (Men who look at porn are impotent for God.)
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To: Jim Robinson

You are only as old as you let yourself feel. Never grow up, never surrender! Also, I can’t speak for anyone else, but the best thing you could do for a lost spouse, in my opinion, is to live your life to the fullest extent possible.


135 posted on 06/09/2024 6:44:59 PM PDT by webheart
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To: Varsity Flight

🦁 “War, by the prophesies set before you”
1. Timothy 1:18

🧬 10-5-6-5

🔥🐯✝️” Your gonna have to kill me” Cool Hand Luke


136 posted on 06/09/2024 6:50:20 PM PDT by Varsity Flight ( "War by 🙏 the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite warriors. 10.5.6.5 These Days)
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To: Albion Wilde

Reminds me of a cartoon I saw once, where a really decrepit old man is sitting on an exam table and the doctor is saying something like, “Remember how I told you that if you didn’t smoke and didn’t drink and ate only healthy foods, it would add years to your life? Well, these are those years.”


137 posted on 06/09/2024 6:54:22 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Jim Robinson

Learn a musical instrument. Wonderfully therapeutic. Sorry for your loss.


138 posted on 06/09/2024 7:04:01 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: SamAdams76

Haha. My dad did the same thing. Always clean cut and clean shaven. Last I saw him after years of him disappearing he had a z top beard and hair to his shoulders. I would have never recognized him. Rush grew a beard as did David Letterman. An old guy thing. I would grow my hair out... but, you know....


139 posted on 06/09/2024 7:05:28 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: sopo; Jim Robinson
Sounds like you were blessed with a very good marriage, a lot of the way you feel may still be grief, as you’ll never stop missing her and the things you built and did together. I don’t know any aphorisms for that, but it is a feeling to be cherished and one that many, if not most, will never experience.

Those are wise words and a good way to look at such a loss.

And I'm in that same boat Jim.

140 posted on 06/09/2024 7:05:35 PM PDT by FreeReign
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