On the Lighter Side? Staying awake, does that go for remembering as we get older?

I received these 2 emails this morning, one right after another, and thought, hum, how appropriate if I put them together into one. So here you are. The first is a quote from Thomas Merton:

“We are like pilots of fogbound steamers, peering into the gloom in front of us, listening for the sounds of other ships, and we can only reach harbor if we keep alert. The spiritual life is, then, first of all a matter of keeping awake. We must not lose our sensitivity to spiritual inspirations. We must be always able to respond to the slightest warnings that speak, as though by a hidden instinct, in the depth of the soul that is spiritually alive.”

-Thomas Merton Thoughts in Solitude [page 39]

And the second email just had this: