Three sisters, ages ninety-two, ninety-four, and ninety-six, lived together. One night the ninety-six-year-old drew a bath. She put one foot in and then paused. “Was I getting in the tub or out?” she yelled.
The ninety-four-year-old hollered back, “I don’t know; I’ll come and see.” She started up the stairs but stopped on the first step, shouting, “Was I going up or coming down?”
The ninety-two-year-old was sitting at the kitchen table having tea, listening to her sisters. She shook her head and said, “I sure hope I never get that forgetful,” and knocked on wood for good measure. Then she yelled, “I’ll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who’s at the door.”
Anne Graham recounted a conversation with her father, Billy Graham, on the subject of aging. “All my life, I’ve been taught how to die,” Billy told her, “but no one ever taught me how to grow old.”
She replied, “Well, Daddy, you are now teaching all of us.”
Anne said she has already learned from her father: “When you get older, secondary things, like politics, begin to fall away, and the primary things become primary again. For Daddy, the primary thing is, as Jesus said, to try to love God totally and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Remember, you are teaching others how to grow older. Teach them well. Enjoy the day and make it count.
Michael