She smiles and says she’s fallen and ended up with a big knot on her forehead so many times, the other residents in her assisted living community call her “the unicorn.” We’ve thought she might graduate from this life to the next on a few occasions, but Lord willing, my amazing and resilient Aunt Doris will make it to the astonishing age of 99 next month.
Living long is one thing; living well, however, is something entirely different. My aunt has managed to do both.
I was blessed to spend some time with Aunt Doris recently and was entertained by her stories, surprised at how quickly she could cruise down the hall with her walker, and impressed by her still-sharp mind. Most of all, though, I was inspired by her faith and the joy that still sparkles in her eyes.
My aunt has known grief and hard times. Nobody rides the roller coaster of life for nearly a century without encountering many bumps and losing a lot of loved ones along the way. Aunt Doris and her five siblings, including my father, didn’t grow up with a lot of material possessions, but their childhood was obviously rich in more important ways.
Several of us sat in her living room last month and listened as my aunt regaled us with family stories, including a favorite involving my grandfather and beer-brewing.
It seems my grandfather liked to occasionally make beer in their bathtub. Sounds kind of gross to me, but that’s beside the point. On one occasion, something went wrong during the brewing process and beer started flowing down the hallway of their house. To make a bad situation worse, my grandmother was scheduled to host her Baptist ladies’ group that day.
The whole family frantically worked to clean up the beer and get rid of its telltale odor. My aunt said they even resorted to intentionally burning something on the stove—these being the days before Febreeze and Glade Plug-Ins—because burnt food was a more Baptist-friendly smell than beer.
Aunt Doris said my grandmother never even fussed at my grandfather for the “beer flood,” which is amazing to me. I’m pretty sure—and my husband would likely concur—I wouldn’t have been nearly so gracious and sweet about it.
As much as I enjoyed hearing her stories, what blessed me most about my visit with my aunt was how she summed up the secret to her long life: “I read my Bible every day, go to church every week, and I love people.”
Pretty good formula, I’d say, and even better because she didn’t mention eating kale or completely eliminating from her diet everything that tastes good.
I think that as we age, our true selves are unmasked. If you squeeze something hard enough, what’s inside is going to come out, and growing old is most definitely a slow, steady “squeezing” experience. For better or worse, what we’ve spent a lifetime depositing in our hearts and minds will likely become more and more apparent.
It reminds me how important it is to follow the Biblical admonition in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
My aunt didn’t wait until she was in her 90s to begin reading her Bible, faithfully participating in a church fellowship, and loving people. She is who she is today because she’s been doing these things for decades. And because she has, she exudes the “fragrance of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:15).
Lord, may I fill my mind with Your truth and my heart with Your love while I still have time and grace to do that.