When I Turn Eighty

     My high school Home Ec. teacher used to say, "if you want to be a sweet little old lady someday, you have to be a sweet young lady now." Although I agree wholeheartedly, I fear I am lagging far behind.

      This weekend we're celebrating my mother's eightieth year of a well-lived life. It's an appropriate time for her children and former students to reflect on what we want to be like when we reach that age.

      My mother's road has not been an easy one. A child of the depression and a bride at sixteen, Mom had five children in the next eleven years. During that time, Dad injured his hand in an accident at the gypsum mine where he worked to supplement their farm income. My mother got it into her head to finish high school by correspondence and pursue her long-held dream of being a teacher. With a chuckle, she tells about taking her textbooks along to the hospital when she had me, the youngest, so she could study for exams.

      After graduating from teachers college, she taught in a one-room school at Falmouth, then at Amaranth High, where she eventually became the principal. By spending her summers in university, she ended up with a Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Arts. Mom later devoted her skills to the students at Portage Christian Academy.

      With more than her share of heartbreaks and losses along the way, Mom not only survived but thrived, thanks to her faith and her can-do attitude. Like Daniel and his friends in the Old Testament, she has come through the fire without smelling of smoke.

      What about you? What do you want to be remembered for? What adjectives do you hope folks will use to describe you when you're eighty? And what one thing can you do, today, to make yourself more like that person you hope to be then?

Me & Mom

When I turn eighty, if I do

I hope I'll have learned a thing or two.

Like...

Tackling new things, big and small

Like swinging a club at a little ball.

Like cheering at a Bombers game

And dressing like a classy dame.

Like how to bake the best darn buns

And playing Scrabble just for fun.

To write a book that blesses others

To love with devotion that never smothers.

To daily pray for all my kids

And grandkids, too, and great-grandkids!

To never spread a nasty rumour

But always keep my sense of humour.

To know that hard roads lead to faith

To walk in mercy, love, and grace.

I hope I'm known as someone kind

Who helped to stretch another's mind.

Who's dabbled with a little art

Who's known for her gracious heart.

When I turn eighty, if I do

I hope I'll be a lot like you.