Roy’s Sunday Letter for April 12, 2026

Paying Attention And Accepting My Limitations

Beth, Peter, and I gather twice monthly to share writings and journals. We three also share of our individual lives. Beth and Peter encouraged me to allow a recent individual writing as the content of a Sunday Letter and thus I have done so this week.

This Sunday Letter is about limitations. Beth now drives. I am passenger/observer. I leave and enter though the driveway and back door due to the risk of our front steps without handrail. I now use a cane when leaving home. The gardens are all Beth. Digging, planting, and weeding all requiring energy and a stronger balancing of garden tools and secure footing no longer mine.

I sometimes filter my confidence and abilities from a ‘less than’ corner. nday Letter.y cart is already missing a professional position, title, and salary. More vital is no longer having a role in developing responsive program services with agency staff and board members.

My send away from college was to join others in saving the whales, rain forests, ending the harm and lack of justice in education, food and wealth and restoring national and world resources. Thus began, my life on leadership in community organizations.

I have yet to save a whale or an acre of rainforest. I was still deep into my save the world t-shirt when I met Beth at St. Francis the last Sunday in May 1977. Together, we have faced challenges with new beginnings, hope and from early light to dark. We have learned and gained respect for each other’s background and skills in, the midst of our doing, extending ourselves in a cause, making our small and larger worlds safe places for all beings.

My soul has not grown old and brittle. I greet each 6:45 sunrise with a sense of awe. I no longer chase the sun to days end. I prefer quiet to noise, nor find comfort in chaos. I regret any loss of connection with others near or far. Drafting the Sunday Letter engages me and keeps my creative mind and spirit alive. I resist the pull to withdraw, to isolate myself from a life of peaceful living and kindness. I have little interest in those who speak from a heart and spirit of hate. My right path is to be encouraging and hopeful, especially with those younger.

My commitment to Beth is from morning green tee to Lawrence’s Last Word. Riding with her Central Market to Archie’s Garden Center is sacred travel. Afternoon words, with Jazz in her rightful place, has been our way of weaving together the us that is us. We never doubt our love and belief in our goodness.

Roy, my limitations are also my opportunities