by Donna Swagerty Shreve
Reflections in My Later Years
One evening recently my husband turned to me and asked me three questions. I am not sure where these questions came from or at this point can he. I knew he was serious when he muted the baseball game to hear my answers.
“If you were to be born again, what color or race would you want to be?”
I hesitated and then replied, “White as I know, there is white privilege and I like to think I appreciate it.”
“What language would you want to grow up learning?”
“English because it is spoken through the world by so many people.”
“What gender?”
“Wow, (I hesitated just a bit) I still want to be female. We get to have the babies and I wouldn’t want to give that up even though I do believe men have the advantage in many ways in this world.”
These three questions reinforced for me that I have had a great life so far. I quickly remembered a certain conversation I had with my father just before he died.
Dad was now a year or so into his illness and he was becoming much more reflective on his life to me.
Dad: “You know I have had a great life. I was born in the United States and in California. I had loving parents and a huge close family. I was given above average intelligence and had no major handicaps. I was tall and I was a male.”
Me: “Wow, that is all so true and that last attribute is an interesting item to share with me, your daughter.”
This is a reminder to all of us to be grateful for the good fortunes we have now. How would you answer these questions and what questions would you add to the mix?
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 