Over the 47 years of my career helping people as a physical therapist, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a great deal from many patients.

I’ve seen people of nearly all ages. I have seen parents, their children, their grandchildren, and then the parents again in a different passage of life. One thing they all have in common is that they are facing some level of adversity in their lives.

Now, approaching my 69th birthday, Ruth and I have had the joy of welcoming the first of our three grandchildren. I find myself moving into a new passage of life — mind, body, and spirit — and experiencing changes that I have seen some of my patients traverse later in their lives. I’ve often seen people struggling with the loss of physical abilities and capacities they had in youth, or feeling concerned about what lies ahead.

Just recently, I had a remarkable experience reconnecting with a gentleman we have seen in the clinic over the years.

John, not his real name, was filling me in on why he was here this time around, but the conversation quickly shifted to a snapshot of his life. John had a successful career in his profession. He was also better than average athletically, participating in a Division I college sport and later becoming a skilled golfer. He even enjoyed music as a pianist.

But the thing he seemed to express with the most pride was his family. He had a number of grandchildren, knew what each of them was doing, and seemed regularly engaged with them. He said, with a level of satisfaction, that all of his children were in solid relationships, each still with their original spouse.

Golf and playing the piano are no longer activities he can participate in, but he remains a great lover of music. He is also a firm supporter of a local nonprofit. He says he has lived a great life. And now, for his family, as long as it goes, “I’m just going to keep on showing up.”

By many measures, John has lived a successful and rich life. There could be a mournful loss of his past skills and abilities, or of the physical limitation that brings him back to the clinic. But there isn’t. He wears a genuinely happy face. He continues to find interest, purpose, and beauty in his life.

These are elements of life that exist only because we create them. And when we stop creating them, they no longer exist.

My takeaway lesson: I’m just going to keep showing up.

Very Best Wishes,