The 5 F’s and Aging

“Fine Food Flavored with Fabulous Fellowship”

Yesterday we had the great privilege to enjoy each of our meals with both sets of my grandparents.  We lunched in Macon with my father’s parents, Mom and Pop, at their  retirement care village and dined in Broxton around the family table with Grammy and Granddaddy.  Both experiences of table fellowship were indeed a joy.  As always seems the case with meals with my grandparents our bodies and souls were nourished.   While sharing with us a story of some pastor he once worked with, Pop told us what this pastor always said was the recipe for a good meal:  “fine food flavored with fabulous fellowship.”  Our two meals could not have been any more different, but both were definitely good meals.

I feel so very blessed to have 4 living grandparents and even more blessed to have close relationships with each of them.  They are all now in their mid to late 80s and are aging.  From watching them age, I have learned that growing old is unique to each individual.  Sometimes aging is most evident in the physical changes to the body and other times it is apparent in the mind.  My Grammy is preparing for a knee replacement in the next few months.  Her walking and sitting have become painful, but that did not stop her from dancing in celebration of our wedding.  My Mom is in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease.  Conversation with her is disjointed and difficult to follow.  Sometimes she may not remember completely who I am, but her smile shows that she remembers that she loves me.

Despite the individuality with which they are aging, each of my grandparents are teaching me how to grow old gracefully.  Their spirits of love and service to their community are still very much alive.  They are adapting to the changes they are encountering in their physical and mental faculties with the assurance that these do not in essence change who they are.  In fact they seem to grow more fully into their authentic self with every passing day.  They are teaching me that becoming fully Margaret will be a lifelong process of daily discovery and really the grandest adventure of them all.

-Margaret