STORY CHALLENGE: LETTER E

ELDERLY INFLUENCE

I was taught to always look for ways to be of assistance and encouragement to those around me.  Those older than I held a special interest for me because of their wisdom and knowledge.

Six years ago I met Gerda and her husband Curtis, a lovely elderly couple.  He, a retired U.S. veteran, was friendly, outgoing and a mentor to the young boys in the neighborhood.  She, a quiet but strong and courageous German woman who loves to knit, crochet and tell stories of her home and life behind the Berlin wall before its’ fall and her escape.

A year after meeting them Curtis passed away on Christmas Day, his eighty-fifth birthday.  Gerda and I both were with him when he died.  With none of her family here in the United States, and not wanting to return home, she only had her husbands sickly eldest brother living in New York State for nearby emotional and family support.  So she became part of our family and she still is to this day.  My granddaughters have been taught to knit and crochet and she has taught us all about courage and endurance.  We have learned a lot from each other and have a better understanding of different cultures, which underneath, we are the same, having the desire to love and be loved.

YOUNG IN THE MIND

“People grow old only by deserting their ideas.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber.  So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage — so long are you young.

When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then are you grown old — and then, indeed, as the ballad says, you just fade away,”

Author Unknown

Illustrations Unlimited – James S. Hewett, Editor

This challenge is sponsored by FrizzText and you are invited to take part and view other entries on his link.

BE ENCOURAGED!  BE BLESSED!