CHANGE

Wallace Baldwin 1932

Jerry Allred,Wallace Baldwin, Don Reaveley

Wallace R. & Bill Baldwin
CHANGE

Yes I have Changed,

I am no longer 14

Nor 44

Nor 54

Nor 74

Yes, I am 84 and I have had a lot of time to make a lot of changes. And yes I have made a lot of changes other than just age. Of course I think a couple of the big ones have been physically and intellectually. Also I am pretty sure that in almost all cases just getting older brings a lot of changes—tagging along behind.

Every once in a while I hear someone say,”I wish I could stay 18, or 30, or 50, or whatever age they are, or that they are comfortable with. Of course they probably do not really mean that. (At least I don’t think they do?) They are probably just making conversation, or small talk.

Also I think we have a tendency to want to change other people and not ourselves. Then that begs the question. “Do they need to change, or is it Me that needs to change?” 

In my 84 years I have met A LOT of people and most of them, by far, have done just fine changing their life from toddlers, to teens, to young adults, to Moms & Dads, Grandpa’s and Grandpa’s and even some old Great Grand’s. Of course there have been some bad apples but they have been a small minority.

Maybe we should just “be ourselves” and not try and put on airs, and try to be something we are not. I was surprised many years ago when a friend and I were talking and he said, ”I wish I could just be myself, like you seem to do. So many people seem to have an agenda and it is relaxing to just talk with someone—just to make conversation—not change their mind or try to change yours on everything that comes up.”

At some point in our lives it will probably dawn on each of us that we are flawed in some way. I think we all try to change those flaws, when we come to the realization that we have a few. We discover this at all ages. It could be 15 and “Oh my gosh, I have a pimple.” Now that is not too serious for me at (age 84), but it sure is at 15, and the discovery is made the night before PROM. Heaven’s sake the world may come to an end. Of course at 84 we have a few of those flaws also. We stand at the top of the stairs, with all of our pockets empty, both hands empty, but can’t for the life of us remember what we are headed down stairs to get? I don’t think that is going to change, unless it gets worse?

Then, at least for me there are some “Never Change” things. I and probably almost all people my age, in this country were taught to say “The Pledge to the Flag” with our right hand over our heart. I may be sticking my neck out a little, when I say almost all people, but I don’t think so?

In our schools, and athletic activities, we were taught to “Pledge the Flag” perhaps even so that it became a spiritual experience. Even today if you are at a parade, watch the people my age (?) and you will see the vast majority will be standing at attention, hats off, and hands over their hearts. (No change needed here?)

Another thing that came to mind as I was brain-storming this Blog was our “change of moods.” It is amazing how fast we can change moods, and also how many different things can Change our moods. A CHOIR—singing a Hymn. Especially one I like will almost immediately put me in a relaxed mood, even if just before it started, I was not relaxed. LAUGHTER--- If I hear someone really laughing it almost always puts me in a happy mood. REMINISCING --- This can go on for hours and I love to talk about “the good old days.” I go to breakfast with some old guys and one of them said at one time, “The reason we talk so much about the old days is because we have all lost our short term memory.” Yes, and he is probably right? A RIDE IN THE MTNS.--- I love to ride in the mountains, especially if there is a stream nearby. It seems to calm the ‘devil nerves’ in me. I have to admit a mountain ride got better as we got older. I think it is because as we got older we did not have three or four kids asking impossible questions, or arguing about who should be sitting where?

I hope everyone who reads this blog either keeps a journal, or starts one soon. There is nothing like a journal to make your children and grand children laugh out loud ten or twenty years from the day that you wrote in your journal. (One comment you will continually get if you have a family picture or journal night is “Did that really Happen?” Also there is nothing like pictures so reinforce how much your life has changed from one decade to another. Of course the great commandment of pictures is “Name, Time and Place on the back of EACH picture.” You may think you will never forget a certain picture, but I can honestly tell you that in ten years you will not remember Who, What, When and Where on a lot of them, if not MOST of them. If you do not do a journal now---make the change, I guarantee you will be glad you did.

There are some things that seem very hard to change. I know in our family we have the up-tight, hurry up, I can do this people and we have some don’t worry about it and it will be OK, or it is not important right now type. I think it might be a cop-out when we say “I cannot help it. It must be in my genes.” I would be nice to be calm and serene all the time but that is not likely to be one of our changes.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland made this comment in Conference one session: “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until Heaven; but those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They come.

President Gordon B. Hinckley made this comment; “Do the best you can. But I want to emphasize that it be the very best”.

So this is about change. And as usual I seem to have rambled a little. As I said earlier, we all have flaws and we all can change. As for me I pretty much try to just be myself, because I am not smart enough to try any other way! I have made a lot of changes in my life and just looking at my picture albums prove that. I am sure I need a few more changes and I am really trying!

Wallace R. Baldwin

7 June 2016