A Lesson Needed

The most wonderful thing about owning and operating a motel is the incredible people that we meet. Just the other day I was talking with a couple that were here celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary. They had been here before and I am still amazed at what they can accomplish. She is an accomplished quilter, making quilts for the homeless at the rate of one a week. In addition, she makes angel quilts for a local hospital in her home town. These quilts bring a lot of comfort to parents’ empty arms. Both of them are very active physically. They are up early and walk to a local restaurant for breakfast. They returned to the motel to pick up their bikes for a 24 mile ride to Wilderness Sate Park. They waved good bye to me as I was planting flowers and promised to chat when they returned. They got back in the early afternoon and I was still planting flowers. They parked their bikes and in a few moments he came and said that he was going to walk to town for a while. He returned three hours later and I was still planting. He told me that it was quiting time…5:00. I couldn’t agree more. I was tired. In a few moments she asked if I would be available to chat this evening. I asked what time she had in mind. She said any time as long as she could do her exercises at 8:00!
When we were talking she told me about her friend Alice. Alice was the local librarian for years and was forced into retirement at the incredible age of 92. Alice never married and was living in the house she grew up in. One day she went to visit Alice and was astonished to see that her living room walls had squares of different paper on them. She asked Alice about the walls and this is what Alice told her. Alice said that the walls had about seven layers of wallpaper on them and that it was too expensive to hire someone to take the paper off. She decided that if she did a little each day that eventually all the paper would be removed. She divided the side walls into three foot square sections and the ceiling into one foot sections, adding that it was too tiring and difficult to hold her head backwards to remove a three foot section of the ceiling. Then every day she would remove a side piece and a ceiling piece. Break big jobs down into smaller pieces and the job will not be so overwhelming.
Wow! What a lesson. This wonderful couple will turn 79 next month. Yes, I was tired after planting flowers for nine hours. But they seemed to be perfectly fine after a 24 mile bike ride and several hours of walking . I learned a great deal from them and we feel truly blessed that they took the time to share a valuable lesson about life. I hope that I will be able to do all that they do when I reach their age.