Not a Christmas Post

2nd post for today - and I just happened to have these old and new photos.

My cousin's son's wife just gave birth to a little girl. I've been following these first days and weeks on his facebook page and downloaded a picture of my aunt holding her new great granddaughter.

I also have some old pictures of my mother and her sister, Florence, before they even married - when they were young and single and had not much to do but have simple fun. Florence is quite sanguine and always would have everyone laughing - especially my mother - and all of us, actually -

Left to Right, Florence, Mother, and a friend at the beach

I can tell that Mother has her head down laughing so hard,

and by the look on Florence's face, I can see that she is continuing to say whatever it is that keeps both Mother and the friend so tickled.

Left to Right, Florence, Lucille(oldest sister), and Mother.

Lucille was probably married by then, but I'm not sure about Florence, and I can tell by Mother's hairdo and comparing it to other photos I have that she wasn't yet married.

So now here is Mother with Mary Ann and it's the "first baby" photos. Anyone who's had a baby can relate to that. Nothing is new "under the sun". It's all been done before.

And 2 1/2 years later, with me - and Mother continues to get a little bit older.

And here is a very recent photo of Florence with her new great granddaughter, and it is her 3rd great grandchild. Florence has just moved to Florida to live with her daughter. Her 3 children are 3 of my favorite people.

This is mother holding Ellie who was her first great grandchild. She didn't live to see Luke, but she had just found out that Ann was having a boy - right before she got sick and went to that eternal home - the one we are longing for - of which we are citizens once we've been redeemed by the Savior whose birth we are now celebrating.

I find comparison photos fascinating. The aging process.

It happens, people. I don't know how I got to be 58 - but when I'm 86 - well, 58 will seem young to me. Honestly, I know of people to whom 86 seems young. I know a few.

Here is what I've learned. The world's median population tends to look at "old people" as quaint and simple....and lacking understanding of what youth feels like - and perhaps the older ones do forget some of that passion which is so alive and intense in youth. But know this - it is primarily the youth who lack understanding of the elderly - who, for the most part, have the wisdom to keep their mouths silent - giving the younger ones time to learn their own lessons, their own way.

I heard someone say that aging is not for cowards. It isn't - and I'm not referring to myself as the aged. I'm thinking of Daddy and Mother and any loved one I've watched whose bodies and flesh are in the last stages of doing what God said they would do as a result of the fall - yet the spirit remains ever alive and the same.