Article January 12, 2009 Issue

'RUN WITH ME, GRANDMA!'

BY MARY FORBES

"Run with me, grandma!" That joyous plea, coming from one of my grandchildren, warms my heart, and is impossible to resist. I'm always eager to join the race—running again and again around the yard, or around the block, much to the amazement of my family. It wasn't always that way.

Several years ago, one of my sons came home on leave from military service. He was eager to teach me some new moves he'd learned at a swing dance club. As I followed his lead, it was very disheartening to find that I couldn't finish a single dance without stopping to rest.

As a student of Christian Science, I was used to praying for a more spiritual view of myself; and this idea that I could be exhausted from a normal level of activity had to go. It just didn't fit with what I knew to be true about my spiritual selfhood.