Friends with the Old Folks

"I just like to do nice things for people," she said. "I want them to feel like we have a bond and we can have fun together."

Spending time with a graceful older woman today, her genuine generosity was striking. In a season of lesser physical ability, her heart and mind were focused on providing token moments to others where they could feel known and seen, gifts of small financial weight, but large emotional weight. She had the capacity to see others' needs and find small ways to bless. I was refreshed by her thoughtfulness.

The perspective at an older age is wider. Having gone through more seasons of both triumph and defeat, what really matters rises to the surface. While it might seem like older people are slower because they have to be, I believe it is just as much that they recognize the value of a slower pace. They have run their races frantically at times and now see the frivolity of it.

I am thankful for my older friends. I am thankful for their kindness and the balance they bring to me. I am thankful for the way they remind me that things will be ok, that I am frankly not that essential, and that I am loved and wanted as I am.

Unsplash Ilya Chunin