May is "Older Americans Month"

My family recently traveled to Florida to celebrate our grandfather's 90th birthday.  Our beloved patriarch is one of the smartest, kindest and funniest men I know.  In fact, I asked him to share his secret for vitality at 90. His answer, without skipping a beat, was: "Lots of sexy women."  (I love this guy!)

I have been thinking of a way to honor him (or at least blog about him... he has email after all)!  In a great coincidence, I learned at church that May is "Older Americans Month" and received the challenge to "think of ways to celebrate our super senior citizens."   Now, I had never heard of this occasion (holiday?), so I decided to look it up.  Here's what I found:

"During Older Americans Month, we recognize the many ways older citizens have enriched our Nation through their character, wisdom, and love.

"Our country remains strong because of the foundation our elders have helped lay.  This year's Older Americans Month theme, "Working Together for Strong, Healthy, and Supportive Communities," highlights the importance of building partnerships to ensure that older Americans are able to live with dignity and independence."

I began to write a blog post to honor our 90-year-old Grandpa, but realized "Older Americans Month" gave me the opportunity to celebrate the wisdom and experience of seniors everywhere.

I have no living grandparents; my husband has three.  Living or not, I have amazing memories of the people who shaped my life.  Some were blood relatives, others were simply people who *wanted* to be in my life and I called them my grandparents.  Regardless, I learned how to dance the polka, bake a cake, needlepoint, and play the organ from my grandparents. 

More importantly, I heard first-hand stories about World History... things I could never learn in a text book.  From my grandparents, I learned about the Great Depression, life on a WWII Navy submarine, food rations, the hard life of a farmer, McCarthyism, segregation in the U.S., and the faith that kept them strong.  From my husband's grandparents, I learned about Germany in the 20s, the rise of Hitler, the Holocaust, war-torn London, making a life in the U.S. as an immigrant, and the faith that kept them strong.   

As I whine about the price of housing and agonize over my child's education, I must step back and acknowledge I have these wonderful choices and insignificant problems because my grandparents are strong, amazing and steadfast people who made my life possible.  And they took the time to talk to me, to teach me about our family history.  They taught me right from wrong. They taught me compassion and perspective. They taught me about hard work.

Now, I am the mother of their great-grandchild.  It is my job to teach her to honor and cherish grandparents -- and any senior citizen -- in our lives.  Through them, we can honor the past, appreciate the present, and hope for the future.

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog Post
And when I'm not sharing stories about my grandparents, I write about much less important things at Laptop Television Mom.

Comments

[Nancy Heifferon (On With Your Story)]

I love what you've said about the importance of teaching our children "to honor and cherish grandparents," that "through them, we can honor the past, appreciate the present, and hope for the future." It's been said that family stories disappear in two generations. That points up the need, not just to tell the stories, but to preserve them in a more permanent way. It's a great activity if you have the blessing of living elders to have grandchildren "interview" them, asking the things they want to know, and tape record the interviews. Those who have done this say it brings the generations closer. And it preserves the stories for the future.