My father was a minister for forty years and during that time he spent much of his time visiting sick people in the hospital. "Be grateful every day that you can wake up and pee," he told me one morning as he shuffled out of the bathroom in his underwear. I must have been about eight years old at the time and I had no idea what he meant. Forty years later as I treat many elderly men who are barely strong enough to get out of bed and who have aging prostate glands the size of grapefruits obstructing their urinary flow, I know full well what he meant: don't take your youth or good health for granted because both are fleeting. Every morning that you wake up continent of urine and can walk to the bathroom under your own power to urinate, thank God for all of the systems in your body that are functioning well enough to make that happen. Ditto for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, swallowing, moving your bowels, blinking when dust blows in your eyes, keeping your balance, feeling your toes and finger tips, reading with understanding and retention, and buttoning your cardigan sweater.
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