Golden Lessons from the Golden Girls
Every saturday, my husband and I facilitate a grief support group for Grief Share. Cathy assigned me to 4 lovable golden girls, with age ranging from 67 to 81 years old. I will turn 50 years old in 2 months and as I watch them, I can’t help but admire these brave and feisty widows . Laughing, crying and talking with these golden girls opened my eyes to living old gracefully.
After going through the discussion on the “Emotions of Grief”, I asked Eden (not her real name) on how she manages to look so young and bubbly at 81 years old. Eden showed a calm disposistion and sparkle in her eyes .
In her perfect , modulated English diction, she listed three tips.
1. Of course you know, eat a healthy balanced diet. She added that she doesn’t take pills for any ailment. Just vitamins and minerals. Oh wow , and here I am taking prophylactic medication for my high blood pressure and diabetes.
2. Exercise regulary. I play tennis 4 times a week.
(I was pleasantly surprised at her stamina. Imagine I am 49 years old and I begged off playing badminton with Abe because of my shoulder aches.)
3. And most importantly, peace of mind.
I asked “how do you achieve peace of mind?”
Eden continues “I lift all my problems of the day to the Lord. Every day I have problems but when I pray before bedtime, I know the Lord will take care of me”
Of course I knew that. My thoughts rattled off. I was captivated as I listened to this “time machine” who shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Eden is not done talking yet . She explained that when her husband was still alive, they’d both pray together every night without fail. “And you know what? we never faced any heavy burden the next day”
Ack, I twisted my hands.
I felt guilty. A few days ago, my husband and I had a small argument over who did more work on the house improvements. Apparently , he felt guilty that I did most of the work. I tried to lift his spirits “you did a lot of work by giving me the money to buy this house”. He continued to whine. Getting impatient with his self-pitying tactics, I shut myself in my bedroom. “I have no patience for this”. Staying in my room while he got holed up in our meditation room downstairs helped us cool our heads off. But we should have talked it out again and prayed before calling it a night.
Eden’s tips to living old gracefully is not new. We all know these secrets but to actually see 4 single young-at-heart women assures me that old age is something to look forward to.
Ask any golden girl her secrets and you’ll probably get the same answers.
This is about me ( a 
guilty as can be for #1 and #2 tips of Eden, i just eat whatever I want, chocolates, cakes, ice cream. for #3, it’s easy for me, not only do I lift everything to the Lord, I continue to have BLIND FAITH, that HE will take care of my family, of our needs.
thanks, Noemi, for sharing.
bloghopping from annamanila. hope my hubby and i can do the same thing about praying together.
hope u visit my page as well when u have time. take care and have a great week ahead.
@sexymom- a bit guilty in number 1. For number 3, I know it now as the key to happiness
@amgine- just pray together always
Thanks for sharing!
I enjoy talking to Golden girls myself. The wisdom of their ages cannot be denied. They are inspirational without even whispering a word, and when they speak such truths and words of life, I think you’re right, getting older is truly a blessing and things will only get better.
Hi there! I’ve been a frequent reader of your blog. I’m interested in Grief Share. Does it cater to parents who have lost a child? In my case, my baby passed away in utero at 35 weeks, and I’m still grief-stricken. Can I attend these meetings? Just curious. Thanks in advance.
Don’t you want to know this golden girl’s secrets. LOL just kidding. I got a lot of unhealthy habits … not the least of which are eating lots of something i really really like …e.g. chocolates, nuts esp macads, lechon and all its variants.
Oooh, you really have a good wide network from the very young to the not so. I like that.
re: praying together
oh dear, I’m more than guilty. One time I so mad that I refused to pray with hubby. That was years ago & I still feel really bad about it. Stupid ‘no? I still have a long way to go in terms of maturing but now we pray as a family.
@auee- I try to remember about praying together. Let’s make it a habit.