Friends Younger than You

I did a stint for my company visiting folks on Medicare, assessing their health needs and how to best address them, whether financial, physical, or emotional. I learned 3 things that seemed to me to be vitally important to being healthy during our senior lives. Number one is to have friends younger than you. If you don't, then, as your friends start to die, you will be left sadly alone. If you do, then you will be continually stimulated by these younger ones facing life challenges, and may even be important to them as a guide and encourager as they travel the path behind you. We have such friends in Chuck and Donna. They are just beginning the journey of empty nest, as their son heads off to college next month. We listened to them talk about the financial burden of tuition, the challenge of impressing their son with the need to get a job, manage his work/student life, get good grades, plan for his future. They also have a new puppy, so we knew their anxiety of a losing a member of their tight knit family to the big world. It was a blessing to talk about this journey, so different than the one we are currently on, full of hope and promise, goals set and life tasks accomplished. We are grateful to have passed through that time successfully, and can encourage them. We can be encouraged to set our own goals, too, full of hope and promise for the road ahead.