In 1972, with a catchy tune and unforgettable lyrics, “The Class of 57,” earned the Statler Brothers a Grammy Award. Of greater importance, they unintentionally established a paradigm for understanding the correlation between youthful dreams, the realities of adulthood, and living outside one’s comfort zone:
Tommy’s selling used cars. Nancy’s fixing hair.
Harvey runs a grocery store and Margaret doesn’t care.
Jerry drives a truck for Sears and Charlotte’s on the make.
And Paul sells life insurance and part-time real estate.
Helen is a hostess. Frank works at the mill.
Janet teaches grade school and prob’ly always will.
Bob works for the city and Jack’s in lab research.
And Peggy plays organ at the Presbyterian Church.
And the class of ’57 had its dreams.
We all thought we’d change the world with our great works and deeds.
Or, maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs.
The class of ’57 had its dreams
Betty runs a trailer park. Jan sells Tupperware.
Randy’s on an insane ward and Mary’s on welfare.
Charlie took a job with Ford. Joe took Freddie’s wife.
Charlotte took a millionaire and Freddie took his life.
John is big in cattle. Ray is deep in debt.
Where Marvis finally wound up is anybody’s bet.
Linda married Sonny. Brenda married me.
And the class of all of us is just a part of history.
And the class of ’57 had its dreams.
But living life day-to-day is never like it seems.
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen.
But the class of ’57 had its dreams.
Aside from the decline in the number of Sears stores and the marketing strategy of Tupperware, any graduating class could be substituted for “57” and the story would still be relevant. In our case, Linda married Ron, we thought the world would change to fit our needs, but soon discovered that living life day-to-day is never like it seems.
Intrusion of Alzheimer’s
When thinking in terms of life on earth, a comfort zone can be described as a place or situation where one feels safe, or at ease and without stress. However, for Linda and me, the intrusion of Alzheimer’s could be likened to an emotional bulldozer plowing through an orderly existence. Realizing that our lives would never be the same, Linda and I had the choice of being overcome by despair or allowing God to teach us how to walk victoriously through the “Long Goodbye.” We chose the latter. It would make for good reading to imply that this was a one-and-done decision; it would also be a lie! For Linda, the cognitive decline associated with the progression of the disease, and the wise use of efficacious medicines allowed her, for the most part, to be at peace and enjoy life. God led me down a different path: When Linda first began to manifest signs of memory loss, I determined to prayerfully intercede on her behalf. In order to make sure that my hope rested on a solid foundation, I carefully studied instances of healing in the Bible and read the historical accounts of great men and women who have been used by God in healing ministries. Assured that my beliefs were founded on biblical principles, my faith grew, and I looked forward to her complete healing and the life we would enjoy in our old age. In 2017, God revealed to me that He planned to heal her in death and not in this life. Later, He placed people in my life who spoke truths that were very hard for me to hear: The initial discomfort will get much worse! It will not be over quickly – in fact, it can best be described as a marathon and not a sprint! There is no cure for this dreaded disease, and ultimately it will end in Linda’s death!
Peace in the Storm
Last week, with Linda’s physical safety and comfort in mind, a wheel chair was ordered and her care was upgraded to the highest level available at Legacy Village. With my emotional needs and comfort in mind, as I await Linda’s homegoing — whether weeks, months, or years – long ago God provided specific insight for our continuing journey:
…we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (I Thessalonians 4: 15b-18 NKJV).
Ron Harvard Ministries 