But then there are other days when I am pretty sure I was born in the wrong generation, and that I am secretly an old lady inside. Case in point: I love stationary and letters, I know how to make bread and baked beans from scratch, I don't have a cellphone, I sew on buttons and mend clothes that aren't ruined, I like to read actual books, sing hymns and play the piano. I realize this much of this is tragically unhip but I can't be bothered to hide it. And I don't put pictures of myself doing these things on facebook.
Today after church we had a 90th birthday party for a lady in our congregation - you only turn 90 once and she is a lively lady despite the year on her birth certificate. What a lovely time: lots of small tables set up, a nice bowl of unpretentious soup for everyone, cake and ice cream. Conversation, smiling. Kids, old people and everyone in between. Another lady played the piano intermittently while we ate. We all sang happy birthday together, whether we felt we were excellent singers or not.
Which brings me to the point: this generation (the one that lived through the Depression and WWII) knows how it's done. They can enjoy the simple pleasures that truly matter: a meal with friends, lighthearted music, kind words spoken and time well spent. Nothing flashy, no pressure to participate by buying stuff (who really needs more stuff now anyway!!). What a nice change from the emotional ambiguity of text messages, the narcissism of the online world and the lack of human contact that makes us all retreat too far into our own heads.
Thank you elders for reminding me what really makes life wonderful.
1 comment:
Loved the subject of this post! Too often I find that people in our generation don't partake in the community building events that were an important element of the social calendar of the previous generation. I touch on this whenever I find myself answering the "what do you get out of church" question. Sense of belonging is the most simplified way to answer. Basically I have a whole extended family of adopted grandparents :)
Of course, I don't need to tell you how much I enjoy the company of the senior set...
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