Longevity Secrets from the Life of Bill Pritchett

This is what I will do in the last days—I will pour out my Spirit on everybody and your young men will see visions, and your old men will experience dreams from God. Acts 4:17 TPT

The young boy kicked the dirt with his bare foot and looked up at the few clouds above.

“One day I will travel all over the world,” he told his brother.

“There you go again with your air castles. They are just like the clouds,” his brother replied curtly.

The boy just smiled and kept on dreaming of the day when he would travel the world and make a difference.

My Dad was born on June 23, 1917, to Bob and Allie Pritchett in Whiteflat, Texas. Grandpa Pritchett was a dry farmer in the Texas Panhandle. Dad always spoke of the abundance of food and good times around the family table. His version of the best food ever is homemade cornbread and pinto beans. That was second to biscuits and gravy. His stories made me smile and feel like they must have been rich during the depression days.

His favorite story was of eating half a watermelon during the hot summer days and having watermelon seed spitting contests with his brothers and cousin, Jack. These siblings teased him mercilessly because he was short as he grew up. During the heat of the summer, he would sleep outside where it was cooler and look up at the stars. He would dream and build air castles about what life would be one day. He was content, yet knew God has something more for him.

We moved to Latin America when I was small and returned for visits to the United States every 5 years. I remember the last time I went to the family farm house. It was tiny and sparse. The electrical wires were exposed and I can only imagine how cold it must have been in the blustery winter months and hot in the summer time. There was a front porch where we sat and ate half a watermelon each. It was magical.

As Dad approached his move to Heaven, we talked about all he had accomplished.

“You know, I always continued to build air castles,” he told me one day over the phone.

“Well, let’s dream of going anywhere you want to go. Where would that be?” I asked.

“I want to eat ice cream on the beach at Playas del Coco, Costa Rica. It may be an air castle but it’s fun to dream about it,” he replied. “Do you remember the time we drove to Guanacaste and camped on the beach?”

“I do remember that time we went there. What a beautiful place!” I exclaimed.

We continued to relive that experience when I was a child. He described it so well that I could practically feel the ocean breeze and see the shells on the beach.

When I hung up the phone that day, I set out to fulfill Dad’s dream of eating ice cream on the beach. I called my brother and sister and we planned that trip. At age 99, my siblings and I took Dad back to Playas del Coco so he could eat ice cream one last time on the beach.

When we got there, it was nothing like our air castle, yet we enjoyed a beautiful time together as a family. As we spoke of this time together during the rest of his life, Dad never spoke of how disappointing it was to see that this beautiful beach is now commercialized and crowded. He only spoke of the fulfillment of his dream and how good the ice cream tasted.

Longevity Secret #4:

Never stop dreaming (or building air castles).

This post is part of the Write 31 Days 2019 challenge. Click here to find more longevity secrets.

Author, speaker, corporate trainer, ordained minister and Hope Catalyst, Karen Sebastian enjoys sharing her rich life experiences with others – engaging them in adventurous discoveries of the beauty of hope in a dark, cloudy world. Her books will inspire you to embrace hope no matter what you are going through. As a caregiver and widow she took brave steps forward to fulfill God’s calling on her life. She has now remarried and enjoys her new hubby and spending time with their children and grandchildren. To increase hope and improve relationships with yourself and those that you love, check out her Facebook page – The Power of Hope.