39. WALKING LIBRARIES

I was brought to realization of my age recently when I overheard a teenage girl say to her possibly 80-year-old grandmother, “When will you have to stop driving?” The grandmother was in excellent health and could probably accomplish more work than the girl, yet the granddaughter considered her about ready to give up life.

Like this grandmother, I have good health and am very active; therefore, I forget that my looks betray the fact that I am no longer young. Because I am in the senior age bracket, I notice young people who are friendly to me and those who have absolutely no time even to speak. The message needs to be made known to young people that older people are walking libraries. They have lived through dramatic changes in our world. Those who will sit down with them and engage them in conversation will be astonished at what they can learn.

I received an email that demonstrates that fact. Queen Elizabeth of England was shown in pictures with ten U.S. presidents. She was a very young woman when she was pictured with President Truman who was president from 1945 to 1953. The pictures continued with Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. I cannot imagine any youth or adult looking at this regal woman, who is now 90-years-old, and thinking she is useless. She has lived through history and made history as the Queen of the British Commonwealth. What an experience it would be to share with her!

Queen Elizabeth is famous, but the most lowly senior citizen is as valuable as she, plus is available to us while the Queen is not. In my growing-up years, I was fortunate to have two sets of grandparents and three great-aunts living near, who were in their seventies and eighties. They were in our home often, especially the grandparents. I loved to be with the family and listen to the adults talk.

My maternal grandmother exerted a big influence on me. When the meal was over and we gathered in the living room, she would say, “Donna, play the piano for us.” I immediately sat down to the piano and played several songs from my repertoire of music. If my single aunt happened to be there, Grandmother wanted me to play and the two of us to sing. She listened to us as if we were professional musicians.

Because of the encouragement of my grandmother, I truly enjoyed learning new music. My piano teacher assigned lessons and I willingly practiced. I had motivation because I loved so much playing for the family on Sunday afternoons.

To this day, I enjoy playing the piano. I am not a concert pianist, but the ability I developed has been useful in being a pianist for church, in helping with programs for young people, and to accompany when friends gather together to sing for fun.

If I had considered these seniors of no value and had gone to my room to read a book, I would have been a loser and they would have missed the great joy that older people get from simply being with the young.

We need to get the message across to our youth to be friendly to older people. They will find them amazingly responsive. And most of them have a more than amazing life history to share.

Tell your young friends, “Skip the library and the Internet. Visit Mrs. Jones in the nursing home and ask her to tell you about the “GOOD OLD DAYS!”

BAKED POTATOES WITH GRAVY AND VEGETABLES
4 large baking potatoes
2 c broccoli florets
2 c cauliflower florets
2 c carrots sliced diagonally
1 c onion thinly sliced
1 c zucchini slices
Bake potatoes for one hour at 400. While they bake,
prepare the other vegetables in large pieces and steam
until crispy tender.
PREPARE GRAVY:
Saute 1 large chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic in
1 T olive oil.
BLEND THESE INGREDIENTS:
3 c almond milk
5 T flour
1 t basil
1 1/2 t parsley flakes
1 t soy sauce (Braggs amino)
Add to onion and garlic and boil to desired consistency.
Split potatoes.  Cover with gravy, add vegetables, then
add more gravy.