Faye

I hope I will age as beautifully and as gracefully as my friend Faye. She has wrinkles and she has scars. Her marks show her many battles. The emotions of many years are painted on her face and hands. But she has an inner and beauty and peace that shines, and radiates onto all who cross her path. 

We should stop, listen, and engage with "old" people. They have abundant wisdom we can learn from. They've walked the path of life much longer than we have. They've learned through trial and error. We can learn from their mistakes, and also from their triumphs. Too few appreciate the wisdom of those with age and experience. I always gravitate towards older generations. One time, Faye said to me, smiling, "But you like old people!" It's always been true: my closest friends are 10-15 years older than me. Sometimes, people say I was born in the wrong decade! 

Faye has untold quantities of wisdom, she's lived on this earth for quite a bit longer than most of us. She will celebrate her 90th year this August. (On aging, she told me, smiling, "It's no fun, but it's okay.") I spent hours and hours with her, and I'm struggling to remember everything she told me. I carried my notebook over to her house (she lives next door to my dad and stepmomma), and wrote down what I could. She reminded me, "You can't grow in your comfort zone."  Thankfully, we both have telephones, and I do my best to reach her every couple of weeks. 

I'm thankful for Faye, and happy that our paths have intersected. I am lucky to know such an amazing woman. 

I had a conversation with my friend Jason (who recently turned 44) about learning lessons from our elders. In his neighborhood, lives a man who is 72. This man is retired, but works around the neighborhood, fixing up this, patching up that. Jason came home from work one day to discover this man painting his mailbox. He found out this man had completely replaced his rickety old mailbox with a brand new one. Every now and then Jason will carry over a beer or two to his old garage and the two of them will just talk. The world needs more people like that, those who will simply take time out of their day, and listen to those who most people forget. 

The world needs more listeners.

We are more than willing to talk, but we need to remember to pause and listen too. I think we could all stand to more consciously absorb wisdom from our elders. 

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014, Rosharon, Texas