I think what has brought all this up in my mind are all the articles in the news about abuse linked to some very public figures. It then occurred to me if it is difficult for any truth to be recognized in the lives of the famous; how arduous is it for those whose lives are not part of the 'public domain'?
Then there is the whole idea of forgiving ones' self for what you are solely responsible for and seeing these instances as learning experiences. Learning to divorce yourself from things that happened in or because of a broken relationship is important. As is learning to forgive others for the things that happened. I do not believe that it is germane that others total forgiveness of you occurs; nice but not that relevant. What is important is your forgiveness of yourself!
Okay, so what has all this got to do with a person in the autumn of their life? It has got to do with the "haunting" factor. If you want a pleasant and happy retirement put all ghosts to bed as quickly and as deftly as possible. What is ideal is to have cleared them away with in a month or two of their occurrence. As that is not always possible. get it done now so your retirement can be full of lovely memories and not like things from a bad Halloween Pantomime, knocking away at your subconscious.
"Dobbie's Doggie Dissertations" will have to wait till after the New Year. "And good night Mrs. Calabash wherever you are!"- Jimmy Durante closing his show from 1954 to 1955.