A recent trip to Florida, I met a new older woman who I enjoyed conversing with immensely. She was retired as a patient service coordinator, the liaison between patients and doctors and the facilitation of necessary medical services which could help the patient. She loved her job and she was good at it. I had a great sense of that after our day long journey on the water filled with conversation. With the various experiences our family has had with the medical field, I know just how important her job is to patients.
                     She was full of wisdom and that is why I think I have always enjoyed conversing with those who have experienced life longer than me. They have a different perspective on how it all fits together. She said that it all boils down to “A little respect goes a long way” She spoke of how she put up with a lot of things with her first husband that she would never put up with now. She was also working in a funeral business talking with families who had come to make arrangements for their loved ones. She also was very good at that. Sometimes people just need to talk and have someone listen to them.
                     The older I get, the more I seem to understand about certain things. I always  believed in God but was not really sure of what role God played in my particular life. Some of my life experiences, I have consciously reached for help in my distress. I found by doing so that I was able to come to some peace with turmoil I had been experiencing. Anyone who has been married for any length of time could tell you if they chose to share, that it is difficult sometimes to stay together because we all change as time marches on. We handle things differently and it is not always together as a couple. Marriage is different for all of us. I have come to believe that it is our faith that helps us through painful life experiences and for some, to persevere through the bad times as well as the good times. Marriage is not for wimps. Some people just accept their lot in life and try to find meaning in that. Maybe I am way off, but this is what I have come to believe. 
                     Acceptance ….accept ourselves that we could possibly be similar to our parents whom we do not always tolerate…..accept our parents because they did nothing but try their best, with no instructions to raise us into decent human beings, and always loved us unconditionally even when we disappointed them….accept your children the same way your parents accepted you. Life is sometimes sad when we don’t receive what we expected, in the form of perfect children, perfect spouses, and aging parents. Life is about constant change and how we choose to react. Each day is new, and the older we get, we can count our blessings that we saw the sun shine again, or the snow fall. Live life, because it is now. Time wasted is just that. Time wasted. Ask yourselves, what can you do to make things a little nicer for someone else? After all we have to live with our own selves and it is “not all about me”. There is room enough to fill your hearts with love and face the day with a smile knowing that you did your best today.