Years ago I visited an elderly woman who didn't really know me and who lived in a nursing home half an hour away. I would go because her elderly husband asked me to go. He wasn't in great shape himself, but he still lived in his small lakeside home and got out to church with the help of canes. During a visit I noticed a photo on the nightstand of a woman in riding garb with each foot planted on the back of a horse. I asked the husband about this picture later, and he told me it was his wife in an earlier day. She had been a stunt rider and he became animated as he shared some of her exploits with me. I surprised him when I asked for a copy of the photograph but he complied. I wanted it to remind me that the people I visit in institutions were not always frail in body or mind. They lived full and active lives and deserved to be treated as God's precious children, however old they might be.
I searched this photo out recently after I told one of our St. Paul's members about it. And I thought about it again when I called one of our members about her mother, who is in failing health. The family has been so good to her, but all they can do now is wait for the end. I know they will honour who she was in the fullness of life.
I find it difficult at times to think of seniors as active, young people. Most of the funerals I plan are for those who are in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. I am glad I have families who can share with me how these people lived when they were young.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good reminder to me that the church is one of those few places where people of all ages can connect and hopefully learn from each other and better understand one another.
I love this image of a "stunt rider". It is so easy to be so caught in the demands of caregiving for those who aren't well and to actually lose the one being cared for....I find often as I tell my kids of their grandmother when she was younger and well, startles me, as I haven't spent the time re-membering her myself,as I should. I will keep the stunt rider's vivid image, as another reminder...(although I'm quite sure my Mom never ever rode a horse).Although as I type that...I am reminded of touring Central Park on a horse drawn carriage together...thanks for that memory.
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