One of the joys of my life is my Bible study class. We have been meeting together for over eight years. It is a motley crew of ‘ancients’, mostly over 75 who truly know what life is all about. Their favorite expression is ‘been there, done that’. And they have! What a storehouse of memories they have and what a joy to ‘remember when’, with all of them.
They arrive about 9:30 Friday mornings and leave shortly after 11:30 a.m. They walk in, change their shoes for slippers, throw their coats over the downstairs banister and head directly into the kitchen. The 24 cup coffee pot has perked and there is usually a cookie or slice to wash down with the coffee. During the winter we wander through Max Lucado’s Bible studies and share our beliefs and our fears…we always worry a little about our families, who are now grandparents themselves but still are our ‘children’. We laugh, cry and pray together. God is in our midst.
Last Friday I mentioned that I had been to a large conference and had had a special moment. A man whom I had known as a little boy, came and gave me such a long, loving hug. I said to the group (90% widows), how nice it was to have a man’s arms around me again. They laughed and one of the quieter ones asked “what’s his address.” That had us in stitches for a long while.
It’s so easy to put seniors in a box. They still love laughter and cake and coffee and they miss their husbands, their kids who live far away and the friends who have already made their home in heaven. They are more than white hair, walkers and hip replacements. They have lived marvelous lives and weathered circumstances that would take a younger person to their knees. Most of them hold responsible volunteer jobs. One of them (a retired farmer’s wife) still sends in a grain report, a couple of others bake cookies for the Cancer Clinic, one still runs her tractor around her farm yard, cutting grass and whatever else tractors do, and I take services at the church, and at nursing homes and write my little blog each week. We are real people with real tasks that contribute to society.
I wish I had realized this when I was much younger. I have a friend twenty years younger than I am. She listens and laughs and shares and accepts and loves me. What a beautiful gift God has given to both of us…the years have not separated us, they have brought us together.
So if you have an older friend (ask her of course), but give her a hug. You might just make her day!
