Aging scones

We are so equipped to live, yet so ill prepared to die. The energies of life are equally balanced but the mind runs from the thinking like a fool runs from truth. Should not age and the passing of time, the acceptance of loss, the preparedness of leaving, the contentment to be unnecessary be necessary ingredients for the fullness of our spirit? I made a batch of scones yesterday and to my delight they came out fluffy and “scone-like”. The greater test came when they were quickly put away by the elderly folk of our community who had come for tea. We spoke about many things as we ate those scones. The past few years lit up before us like an old man and lantern slowly negotiating a path. We stopped to remember how challenging changes had been. We stopped to remember the passing away of loved ones that no longer eat our scones. We remembered our human frailty and laughed at things said and done. We remembered how good it was to be “young.” I had fretted over those scones. At first I had put too much baking powder in the mix. Then I had had to double up on the ingredients to compensate. Then there was too much salt and I had to add a cup more sugar to make them palatable. We accept that scones must have all the necessary ingredients to be just right. Yet we struggle to come to terms with our age, our departure and our necessary demise, the ingredients of life that in the end, when the timer rings, present us ready and completely - “human-like.”