Live, Love, Laugh
Take Life as It comes
Aunty Sarla celebrated her 90th birthday 2 years ago. Every year she celebrated her birthday with a lot of fanfare. This year she had held her birthday with 17 friends at a beautiful garden venue and then the next day she took some friends to a 5-star hotel to have a ceremonial closing ceremony.
This lady was stately and very satisfied with her life. She takes life as it comes.
Family and Tragedies
A peek into her family. Her husband was a highly placed executive. She had a wonderful time with him at home and at social evenings. He was a good man and gave her a great life. They were happy together.
Her husband had passed away many years ago. They had 3 sons and one daughter. After her husband’s death, her eldest son developed cancer. She looked after him but after a lot of treatment he passed away. Another tragedy struck her when the second son also passed away. Both of them were unmarried. Then her daughter and son-in-law also passed away and she has a grandson who lives on his own.
The youngest son is a doctor and lives in London. He is married to an English lady and they have two children;One daughter and one son.
With all the tragedies of multiple deaths of husband, two sons, daughter and son in law, and one son living far away, the lady lives her life all alone having no family around her.
After each tragedy, she dusted the mud under her feet, smiled, and said to herself, ‘move on’ life has to go on.
A Description of her Life
Alone: The lady lives alone. She maintains her own house. She has quite a bandwagon of people around her. A driver, a cook, gardener, cleaner and a helper. She has learned to enjoy life despite all the tragedies.
Friends: She has a group of 17 friends. She meets them every morning, goes for a morning walk to the park. Each one of the friends brings tea and a snack when their turn comes. She also brings the tastiest snack with tea when her turn comes. Her morning routine energizes her day.
Get-togethers: She is a great organizer and the first one to vote to go out together to the club or to an outside location for a picnic. She influences everyone and finds new places all the time to coerce everyone to go to interesting locations. She thinks birthdays are very special and cooks interesting and tasty dishes and surprises her friends with special gifts and snacks carefully packed and cooked herself.
Dress: Madam is always dressed elegantly and second to none. She wears fashionable clothes and smart dark glasses and moves easily with a stick.
Her hair is always in place. She uses no chemical dyes. She puts some herbs in an iron pan and puts it with a brush every day on her hair. She has makeup on and does not look a day above 75 years. Such a pleasure to look at her. She asks for advice on makeup and uses all specially branded products. I saw her using lipstick, shine on her cheeks, some eye make-up, and looks so energetic and good.
Relationships: She is very witty. She is friendly to everyone. She has made her special friend her daughter and another friend her daughter in law. She takes advice from them and says nothing to her so-called daughter in law but reprimands her daughter. They all have a good laugh at these relationships. She loves to go out for lunches and dinners with them
Evenings: The evenings are again very colourful for aunty cannot relax, and not enjoy the outside world. She loves her time to be merry and laugh her worries out. She goes to the club every evening and plays cards. Rummy is her favourite game and she loves her glass of wine as this puts her at ease and she relaxes too. This lady lives her life queen size.
Lessons Learned from this extraordinary person
#1. Life moves on, every person has tragic and pleasant times, one has to take life as it comes. Enjoy the pleasant days and take the tragedies in one’s stride, only then can you survive.
#2. It is possible to live all alone if you have the will and courage to do so. Having no family around, she made friends and sought solace in their company without burdening them with her sorrows.
#3. Energize yourself in the company of younger people if you don't find people of your age and embrace diversity. Feel great, dress well for yourself. It uplifts your spirit, brings a sense of happiness, and makes you want to do something rather than be lethargic and useless.
#4. Believe in relationships. By making people close you, and giving them names of daughter and daughter in law, she actually cultivated a family relationship with whom she could relate well and in times of need whose advice could be sought.
#5. Believe that people are special and create a bond by doing something where you have a talent. Being a good cook, she would surprise people with her exquisite culinary delights.
#6. To gain the respect and love of others, do something for them. Make others happy and special in your life.
#7. Laugh your worries away. Enjoy yourself wherever you are. Create a hobby, merriment, or something special for yourself. Do yoga, go for nature walks, cycle, drink vine, play cards, pray every day. Do everything to keep your life fulfilled and that makes you happy. Learn to relax.
The final lesson I learned and hope you will join me too is to LIVE, LOVE Laugh, and take life as it comes.