The Unexpected Gift Of Being Old
By Marion Bar-Din
Now, at the age of ninety-four and a half, I’m still experiencing things I hadn’t expected. Many are good things that warm my old heart. I have, over the past ten or more years, a new group of middle-aged men and women who come to visit me regularly and are interested in listening carefully to what I say. These are the sons and daughters of my old friends who have already passed away. They call me and want to visit. They ask lots of questions, but soon they are telling me about their lives and look to me as a surrogate parent who may have advice or a story about their mother or father.