Saturday, September 4, 2010

No Regrets

One of our residents stopped in my office today to chat. She's in her 90's. A perfectly lovely lady. Her family has shared with me that she can be a hand-full.

Anyway, as we were enjoying a lovely chat she shared that she had some regrets especially about some things when she was raising her children. She told me that she regretted to this day that she had not allowed her daughter to go to the University of Texas where she had wanted to go. She realizes now the reason she wouldn't let her go was silly.

She then went on to say that one of her daughters wanted her bridesmaids to wear hats in her wedding but she thought it was tacky and wouldn't hear of it. She now regrets making a fuss over it as it was her daughter's wedding.


I asked her if she had told her daughters about these regrets. She said she hadn't. I encouraged her to share with them what she had shared with me. She said they would be visiting soon and thought she would tell them.

We just do the best we can with the tools we are given at the time, don't we? Sometimes it's not very good and other times we do alright. But, how important to apologize and ask forgiveness when we recognize our shortcomings.

I'm thankful for the conversation I was able to share with this beautiful lady today. I'm thankful that God placed me in a place to get lessons from those older than me all the time. (I think he knew I was a slow learner and needed a lot of guidance. smile)

I don't want to ever look back with regrets, either. I've done some pretty bone-headed things, for sure. Let's take care of what we can with regrets from the past and then move on.

Movin' on,
Lila

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Live Juicy

Here is another painting with a Sark expression. Sometimes the people who inspire the paintings are an amalgam of several different people. I painted this cute little lady without realizing she has a lot of our Activities Director in her. (I work in a retirement living community.) Renee lives juicy. She wears fun clothing and is always wanting to try something new. One of her children's friends told her she dressed like a French artist. She really does.

Why say, "yes" when you can squeal, "oooo la la?"
Lila