That's my new philosophy! Tonight I spent a few hours with my grandma and some of her friends at her retirement home. And I was reminded of my deep, deep love for those older than me. Oh it was so good for my soul - I just love hearing people's stories and their history, and I alway walk away feeling so thankful for my health, my able body, and my youth!
And as I was staring at the three women around the table, I couldn't help but smile. My dear, old grandma kept asking the same questions and stating the same things, and the women kept answering that same question. And there was a time in our conversation where I truly thought...do they know that she has already asked that question three times? Or is this a normal conversation amongst the elderly? Oh it was so amusing to be honest...and so beautiful just to see how patient they are with each other. I sure could learn alot from them.
And as I asked countless questions and listened to them share their life stories, the majority of which revolved around their families (their children, their grandchildren and their countless great grandchildren), I couldn't help but think about my grandma's own life story.
Here is a woman who will be 88 I believe in July, maybe 87? - is it terrible that I truly don't know! She said she was going to be 88 tonight, but that just doesn't seem right. Anyhow, here is a woman that is getting older....she has so many aches and pains I can't even name them all. I know she feels blessed by her family, but as I listened to these women share about their children's weddings and their grandchildren's weddings and the silly things their great grandchildren are doing, I couldn't help but think about my grandma's own family.
My grandma married when she was in her 20s, but they divorced, I believe when my grandma was in her 40s, maybe even younger, and she never did remarry. She had three children, but one died at the age of 18, so then she had two children that were living. My mom married my dad somewhere in there and they had 3 children, myself being one of them. And my grandpa passed away soon after my brother was born - I think he may have been a year or so. And somewhere in there my aunt married John and he had two daughters from a previous marriage, but my aunt never had any children of her own and they divorced a few years ago. I suppose I could say we have a fairly small family, and maybe that's because I don't have any cousins and my grandma doesn't have any great grandchildren....yet! And I am the only one out of my siblings that is married - so our family has really only expanded by one, thanks to Peter. But hopefully, God willing, this is only the beginning of the expansion.
After listening to these women, I began to realize the true joy they receive from family expansion. I mean think about it...how amazing is it to see your family expand, to be able to witness the lives in the next generation, to be able to witness your children becoming parents and your children's children becoming parents, to be able to meet their children and be a part of their lives. It truly is miraculous isn't it? And these are the joys found in getting older.
I know my grandma is blessed tremendously by her family, but I know it would bring her great joy to see the family expand just a bit further - I know she would love to see my brother and sister get married, to meet their spouses and to be alive for their weddings, and I am sure it would bring her even greater joy to meet a member of the next generation.
So my prayer tonight is that my grandma would live long enough to experience all THREE of these things... would you please join me in praying for that?
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