Tonight begins the celebration of my 65th Birthday which is on March 12 with the performance of my one-woman show, “Tomatoes on a Windowsill.” 

It is hard to believe that I am 65. Where has time gone? That’s very cliche, but it is true. I really don’t know how I got to be 65. and, to tell you the truth other than being more spiritually and emotionally mature, physically I do not feel any different. I do believe that age is an illusion that is experienced in a myriad of ways by each of us.

I invite us all to release our expectations of age as definied by race consciousness, and just be ourselves. I invite us all to surrender to our age, not as a physical manifestation of our journey, but as a means of measuring our spiritual evolution. Of course, you can choose to do what you wish, but this is my way of approaching age. It is not denial, but a different perspective. I choose to relax into my age as a recognition of a marker in my journey called “life.”

I am grateful for my life and all of its twists and turns. My one-woman show, “Tomatoes on a Windowsill,” brings those twists and turns all forward again for me. As I stood by the ocean today after my three mile run, I was filled with emotion for the journey called my life. I’ve been through just about everything in one way or another and still here I am.

Have you ever thought of that for yourself? You’ve been through a lot in the world of experience, and yet, here you are. We are miracles for sure. Life has a way of continuing no matter how much we try to get in its way. Emerson calls it our “bloated nothingness.” I’ve released a lot of that through the years. The truth is, we can’t stop life; we can only choose to enjoy it or suffer through it.

I meet many people and hear about many people every day who are enjoying life or who are suffering through it. It doesn’t really matter whether they have a lot of money or if they are poor. It doesn’t matter if they are sick or healthy. These things, it seems, have nothing to do with the enjoyment or suffering of life. This might seem like a broad statement, but I find it true most of the time.

Well, as I said, I am beginning my birthday celebration tonight with my one-woman show – “Tomatoes on a Windowsill.” For an hour and fifteen minutes I will share my life – its sufferings and triumphs. As I reflect on life through this memory play, I applaud myself for being here – NOW. My journey of my true self began when I truly believed that I deserved it, not because of all the things I did in my life, but because of who and what I am – Divine. We are all Divine.

What’s in an age? Nothing really, but Life.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita