Day 1557

When your Golden brothers are wearing the “Cone of Shame,” you head out to be the Therapy Dog extraordinaire! Gus and Sam are suffering from severe reactions to allergies, so their oldest brother went to Walker Senior Living in their place. Ranger, who used to be a familiar, furry face there, headed out in their stead.

To transport Arthur, we did use his amazing stair system for the car, chose the elevator to get from floor to floor and took more than a couple pauses to make sure nobody was overdoing. Ranger never missed a beat! He was a gift to every single person he leaned against and charmed his way through the morning. Running into a dear senior friend, who knows all the Halo, I smiled when she said, “When you get old, like Ranger and me, you get tough! That will see you through!”

Strength of character does tend to follow graceful aging. There are so many people in my life who have traveled the road before them with growing wisdom and faith. Even when the path gets a bit rocky, they simply slow down a bit, reevaluate and rely on the strength that wisdom has given them and continue forward.

Observing those who are senior to even me, I admire them and tuck some truths into my bag of resilience…

*Accept what you cannot change.

*Learn to be grateful for the small gifts life offers.

*Complaining never really helped anyone.

*Keep your sense of humor.

*Crabbiness is not attractive.

*Never give up!

*Try to hold on to empathy for others.

These lessons are demonstrated by so many of the 80 and 90-year-olds we visit and love. Ranger offers his own moments of wisdom as well…Accept love with your whole heart and embrace your “inner puppy” now-and-then.

With models like Ranger and our senior friends, aging doesn’t look too bad!