Who Would Have Thought . . .

The seventy-seven year old was doing some personal reflecting with the eighty-one year old.
And this is not a joke; it is a true tale. I know for fact since I am the eighty-one year old.
We were engaged in a conversation recently, the two of us, "old timers," some would call us and so be it.
In a very real way, that is who we are.
And it all began with a question.
"Did you ever think you would live so long?"
Certainly, anyone who has arrived at eighty-one or even seventy-seven could easily raise that sort of question.
We are living longer but still, when you are forty or even fifty, ages like seventy or eighty seem so distant and people that old seem so, well, old.
Deep down we hope to live long, full and fulfilling lives.
Yet somehow when that reality starts to unfold there is an air of unreality about it.
"Did you ever expect to live so long?"
But then came the next question.
This was very much a question for today.
"Did you ever imagine we would be living through this?"
We of a certain age have lived through all sort of things.
For this eighty-one year old there are actually memories of at least segments of World War II.
I definitely remember hearing the radio announce the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who saw us through so much of that era.
I remember the great outbursts of joy at the word that the War was over.
And looking back to those days I can also, at least vaguely, recall something of the fear felt when Detroit erupted in 1943.
I lived through and remember Atomic Bomb Attack "rehearsals." We actually secured ourselves our classrooms by putting our heads down on our desks. Really?
And the basement of our school/church building was a bomb shelter.
I remember barrels filled with water and non-perishable foods.
And those yellow and black insignia indicating shelters.
Lived through so many presidents and popes.
Yes, I recall the excitement in 1958 when Cardinal Mooney was going to give Detroit Catholics the first-ever vote in the conclave to choose a successor to Pius XII.
And then came shock and disappointment with the news that the Cardinal, himself, had passed away.
Lived through the Cuban Missal Crisis.
Remember that because for the first time we, seminarians, were allowed to watch TV. If we were going to die, we might as well see the process unfold on the nightly news.
And I recall being laid up in the seminary infirmary with  pneumonia when JFK was assassinated.
I was among those speculating about our future as Church as the Second Vatican Council convened and I can recall learning and relearning and relearning still again how to stand at the altar and preside at the Mass. or is it Eucharist? or is it Liturgy?
My days saw first hand the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and the Viet Nam Resistance of the 70's and the Watergate Scandal.
Lived through the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.
Saw the arrival of the new Century and Millenium and searched for the predicted impact of Y2K.
Remember the morning of September 11, 2001.
So much!
So very, very much.
In all of these years, in all of life's journey those of us of a certain age can say that we, truly, have seen so much.
We thought that we had seen it all.
But then it came!
And here we are today living in a whole different, wholly unexpected world.
Pandemic!
"Did you ever imagine we would be living through this?"
Who would have thought?
Yet here we are.
Our journey continues.
And a new challenge confronts us.
Who would have thought?



Stay Home!
Stay Safe!
Keep us all safe!