Everyone has a story, they say. We pass people everyday while shopping, driving, walking, or at an appointment and have no idea what is going on in their lives. It has also been said that we assume other people live the way we do, but they do not. Every life is different.
While shopping for my young granddaughter today, I met a woman doing the same for her three young grandchildren. It seems she noticed a toy sewing machine in my basket and asked where I found it. We talked for a moment about sewing machines, dolls, and doll clothes. After a few minutes, the conversation took a turn. The woman began to pour her heart out to me about her grandson.
The woman appeared to be in her late fifties, maybe sixty. She was pretty and had a beautiful smile, until it went away. It seems that she was looking forward to retiring and doing the things she always wanted to do, but didn't have time to do because she was raising her own children and then suddently her plans changed. Her young toddler grandson needed a home. The home he had was falling apart. She had been parenting her young grandson for the last twenty months or so and it seemed that it was most likely going to be permanent.
Here she was, taking on raising a second family, when she should be leaning back alittle and planning some fun things to do for herself. She stepped up and took the bull by the horns and provided a home for a toddler. She had won my admiration.
By the time the conversation had ended, she had found new strength. We talked for almost an hour. She only needed someone to talk to and I was that person. What did I do? I listened. Sometimes that all a person needs, someone to listen. She realized once again, something that she had let fear take away from her...she could still do what she wanted to do and enjoy retirement, she would just have a young little boy to share it with. She was going to turn this into a positive.
We can plan and plan, but sometimes our lives take a different path through no action of our own. We can either fight it and go into depression, or we can step up and write a new plan with new rules, our rules. The place to begin is with changing our thinking about aging. Then opening our hearts to new possibilities and realize that life is not over, it is only evolving. We can fight it and waste our life, or we can lay down the rules and write our own plan for aging.
We teach our children to never say "I can't". Why are we so quick to say "I can't" just because our plans evolve? We can, if we will!
Change your heart, change your mind, change the world, and change your life!
xoxo
While shopping for my young granddaughter today, I met a woman doing the same for her three young grandchildren. It seems she noticed a toy sewing machine in my basket and asked where I found it. We talked for a moment about sewing machines, dolls, and doll clothes. After a few minutes, the conversation took a turn. The woman began to pour her heart out to me about her grandson.
The woman appeared to be in her late fifties, maybe sixty. She was pretty and had a beautiful smile, until it went away. It seems that she was looking forward to retiring and doing the things she always wanted to do, but didn't have time to do because she was raising her own children and then suddently her plans changed. Her young toddler grandson needed a home. The home he had was falling apart. She had been parenting her young grandson for the last twenty months or so and it seemed that it was most likely going to be permanent.
Here she was, taking on raising a second family, when she should be leaning back alittle and planning some fun things to do for herself. She stepped up and took the bull by the horns and provided a home for a toddler. She had won my admiration.
By the time the conversation had ended, she had found new strength. We talked for almost an hour. She only needed someone to talk to and I was that person. What did I do? I listened. Sometimes that all a person needs, someone to listen. She realized once again, something that she had let fear take away from her...she could still do what she wanted to do and enjoy retirement, she would just have a young little boy to share it with. She was going to turn this into a positive.
We can plan and plan, but sometimes our lives take a different path through no action of our own. We can either fight it and go into depression, or we can step up and write a new plan with new rules, our rules. The place to begin is with changing our thinking about aging. Then opening our hearts to new possibilities and realize that life is not over, it is only evolving. We can fight it and waste our life, or we can lay down the rules and write our own plan for aging.
We teach our children to never say "I can't". Why are we so quick to say "I can't" just because our plans evolve? We can, if we will!
Change your heart, change your mind, change the world, and change your life!
xoxo
RSS Feed