My friend Elaine recently moved into an independent living facility because she knew it was time to acknowledge the severity of her back issues, which required significant surgery several months ago that would prevent her from navigating her longtime beloved home.
Before we might feel sorry for her “downgrade” think again. This was luxurious accommodations akin to an upscale cruise ship. She has already accumulated many new friends and activities appropriate for her (hopefully) temporary scaled-back mobility.
Besides a fabulous chef that prepares mouth-watering dishes daily, there are coffee bars, alcoholic bars, movies, indoor real golf (really!) and games galore to satisfy everyone’s interests. She has a dog walker, housekeeper, and transportation among her many conveniences.
One of these activities is a kind of arts and crafts class, whereby she can make any assortment of things. She confessed that she had no talent or interest in this, but good-naturedly tried it out, much to her chagrin. Her rudimentary creations belied this lady’s extraordinary history. She was an elementary school teacher for decades, then became an art museum docent for years after her retirement. She went to countless plays and concerts, traveled around the world, and yes, she was until a few years ago, an avid walker.
But then she took this class and was humbled by her inept attempt at making something useful or attractive. I found them to be truly horrible, and asked her if I could photograph to show you, which she good-naturedly agreed to. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one is the diamond art coaster, knitting (with dropped and added stitches), necklace, scented candle that kinda stinks, coat hook, painted coaster, paint pouring (what is that?), nite lite, air freshener and air plant planter. The last one fell apart when I touched it. She indicated they were all going in the trash after I left.
I guess the moral to this tale is not to take oneself too seriously. Sure, she was once a proud and successful part of her community, but things are different now. She hasn’t lowered her opinion of herself, and if you knew her, you would admire her for her ability to go with the flow. That was then and this is now – that’s how she views her life.
How wonderful if we all could accept that which we could not change and just move on. And doing so with an admirable sense of humor, like Elaine has, would be icing on the cake!
