He is proud to be 101 today, the man in the nursing home The one who sits at the center table with a gentlemanly smile and gets up to dance with the ladies
He’s the one who sings “Amazing Grace” with the pastor The aging man still has his charm and tells war stories to cute nurses on how he blew up enemy bridges and built them up again
He barely remembers his past, and the scent of his wife’s perfume, gazes at the window and sees his reflection among the marigolds and calla lilies
The man with the grand family of multiple generations eats Mexican sweet bread and puts hot sauce on his huevos rancheros
He fades from this life with dignity, climbing the ladder of eternity, a valuable relic to the modern world, a uniformed soldier whose Army picture hangs on the wall.