The Beauty of Age♥

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent - that is to triumph over old age.
-- Thomas Bailey Aldrich


You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older.
-- Anouk Aimee

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

 

This Thursday, February the 10th, my Nana (Grandmother) turns 90 years old!! Wow is all I can say! She's outlived her family really (besides her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren). She has 3 boys and 1 daughter (my mom). She's the best Nana in the whole world, and always has been. Through the years I have learned great strength from her, she's courageously battled various cancers on and off, diabetes and just the typical ways of getting older. Many times I thought I'd loose her, but somehow she always seems to get back up fighting.

I can't even imagine being 50 let alone 90, that's a lot of years, a lot of seeing things others can't imagine, many moments of heartache, but also many moments of love & happiness. Some people complain how tired or old they are at 30 or 40, but we really don't know what old is even at 90! I still call her my young chick and she says 'yes, that's right' and even talks of getting on a plane to come visit me here in the UK. Which makes me think, have we lost what it is that really makes us live, our spirits to keep going? How will we feel when we hit 90 years old? Will we be able to say that we have loved, lost, battled and lived on? Or do we just give in to the time of age as the TV says and go under the knife to preserve what society believes is youth?? I know I look at my Nana and know without any doubt, that that's what I want to be when I've lived that long, someone who has lived, battled, loved, lost and got back up again to survive.

We look for heroes in singers, actors and other people who for the most part only seek to serve themselves, but what about the real people in our lives? My Nana is my hero, she is like a cat with more than 9 lives; A woman of real beauty and grace. I remember being young and coming with my mum to bring her home from the hospital (she had, had her first mastectomy) and being told to sit in the living room while my mum helped her with her bandages, but being the inquisitive child I was, I quietly walked near the door and looked in the mirror in my Nana's room and saw the reflection of her surgery. It was something I'll never forget, from that moment I could see just how brave my Nana was & how selfless as she never complained or made a point of talking about it, just carrying on as she usually did, maybe because of my age or whatever else, but still that shows bravery to me.

I have learned my vintage ways from her, many times travelling from one yard sale to the next, learning to appreciate the little things more, then after going for a meal of hamburgers and fries and a milkshake that was so thick it took hours to finish; just being with her laughing and talking. Being taken out on my birthday all by myself to pick out something special. Sometimes we look at the old as something to toss aside and never make time for, we put other things in front of them, spend less time with them & before long that time will be no more. I don't worry about how much time I'll have with her, I just cherish the time as it is and remain thankful and amazed at her triumph of living through another year of her life.

She is my rock, my hero, My Nana!!

Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.
-- Author Unknown





My Nana with my daughter when she was a baby!