{"id":1538,"date":"2021-10-13T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=1538"},"modified":"2022-06-10T06:19:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T06:19:33","slug":"moms-advice-about-getting-older","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2021\/10\/13\/moms-advice-about-getting-older\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom’s Advice about Getting Older"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My Beautiful Mother

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The anniversary of losing someone you love can be quite painful. The calendar date, month, or season can bring back the feeling of the initial grief, as if you are reliving the loss all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some folks believe this anniversary business is best dealt with by shutting themselves away for the day. Other individuals make a plan to do something special to honor and celebrate their late loved one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This October, I can’t help but contemplate the sights, sounds, and even fragrance of fall when death came unexpectedly more than once leaving such a gaping hole in my heart. For instance, 11 years ago, my seemingly healthy 78-year-old mother died suddenly of a kidney stone gone terribly wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fall afternoon my mom breathed her last breath the sky was vivid blue, the leaves were breathtaking shades of red, yellow, and green, and the crisp autumn air smelled invigorating clean. This scene is forever etched in mind, because it was such a sharp contrast to the gut-wrenching task of saying goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, with time grief lessens. The shock, heartbreak, or even horror of death and mourning are often replaced with pleasant or poignant memories from happier days. Like the seemingly meaningless event which occurred on one of my last visits to see my late mother who lived out of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mom and me on our last Christmas together 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When family was visiting, Mom would usually awaken early and brew a pot of coffee and set something out for breakfast. We were in the kitchen alone on one of these occasions, when I noticed her bathrobe was threadbare and shiny. In her mid 70s by then, she and my stepfather lived in a newer Philadelphia suburb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point in her life, she had the financial means to buy a new bathrobe. As a young mother of seven biological children, her situation had not always been so prosperous. In the early days of mothering, she often sacrificed personal items for herself to purchase groceries or something for one of her children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why sometimes my mother could be more than thrifty when it came to spending money on herself. This is probably a quality most nurturing moms can relate to. Yet her once pink housecoat had faded to a pinkish ivory and was glaringly worn. Realizing she was entertaining my husband and myself that weekend, I knew it must be her best robe or she wouldn\u2019t be wearing it in front of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When mom and I were alone, my concern overwhelmed me. Without meaning to be unkind, I blurted out, \u201cMom, you desperately need a new bathrobe. Yours is so shabby I can see through the fabric. It looks awful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, thank you for telling me,\u201d Mom said sincerely, appearing blissfully oblivious to the shape of the garment. Thankfully, she wasn\u2019t insulted by my remark, sensing my heart in wanting her to have better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t you realize it was worn out?\u201d I asked with concern, surprised she seemed unaware of its condition, especially since Mom was the family fashionista. The truth is, I was frightened my mother might be experiencing some cognitive impairment as a result of aging. The dreadful word, \u201cdementia\u201d menacingly flashed through my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t notice how worn out it was, and I really appreciate you telling me,\u201d Mom said candidly. \u201cYou see, honey, sometimes as people get older, they don\u2019t notice the condition of the things they see on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mom’s advice has served me well this past decade<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gradually with aging myself, I have come to more fully understand what Mom was saying. Complacency or a desire for comfort can make it difficult to be objective when something has passed its stage of usefulness and needs to be replaced with something new. It might not be merely an old bathrobe, but a more important item like an unsatisfying career, a toxic relationship, or an unhealthy lifestyle requiring a dose of reinvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother\u2019s practical advice has served me well this past decade even though I continue to miss her greatly. So, I decided to honor her memory by passing it along. Besides, I don\u2019t grieve without hope, because Mom and I had a shared faith and trust that Heaven really is real. I like to think of her waiting there, brewing coffee and opening the box of donuts. Oh, what a joyous reunion that will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christina Ryan Claypool <\/a>is an award winning freelance journalist, Chicken Soup for the Soul contributor, and author who has been featured on Joyce Meyer Ministries Enjoying Everyday Life TV Show and CBN’s 700 Club. Her inspirational, “Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife: A Novel”<\/em> is available on all major online retail outlets. Here’s the Amazon link<\/a> to learn more.

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The anniversary of losing someone you love can be quite painful. The calendar date, month, or season can bring back the feeling of the initial grief, as if you are reliving the loss all over again. Some folks believe this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1037,260,755,340,81,1036,1038,86,429,1035,1001,997,1039],"class_list":["post-1538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advice-about-aging","tag-aging","tag-cbn-700-club","tag-christina-ryan-claypool","tag-death","tag-death-of-a-parent","tag-fall","tag-grief","tag-joyce-meyer-ministries","tag-moms-advice","tag-novel","tag-secrets-of-the-pastors-wife","tag-secrets-of-the-pastors-wife-a-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1809,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions\/1809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}