On Making Old Age seem Beautiful and other things.

Back to my book discussion. "The Gardens in My Life." By Mabel Barbee Lee. As she gets along in age she shares some wonderful insight into getting old and how others see it. While talking with her daughter she said" I wish I knew how to make old age seem beautiful to you. All I know is what I have observed in others who have apparently found the secret. I have an inkling that it has to do with keeping the mind alive and interrested no matter how affected the body, and never letting the divine spark of self confidence die out....I suspect more than anything else it is the deepening understanding that often gentles the eyes of the aged and makes them more tolerant and forgiving of human foibles and their weaknesses. Grace, it seems to me, is a deepening virtue, never fully realised. It is a gradual warming of the heart toward others, no matter what the differences may be. It is kindness reaching out, not afraid to touch another, nor to become involved if needed.... Above all, it is the desire to help others as well as one's self and to accept with humility what cannot be helped.... It is through continuous refining of character,.., that scars tend to fade and the quality of charm in old age becomes real."
" Nothing is ever really lost to us,...,for out of our losses come unexpected rewards. In our failures, we are either made or broken, depending on our willingness to tap the deapths of our courage, or to endure and to survive."
There is no greater miracle,..., than seeing a seed or an idea which one has planted transformed into a growing, living, joy. In this way , we, ourselves, achieve our own immortality."..."one never plants a tree or a shrub or a fushia slip for one's self alone- it is an act of faith in the months or years to come, a part of the continuing flow of life."