Teaching Your Child To Respect The Elderly: Getting Real, A Short Story For Pre-Teens
Posted: Saturday, December 05, 2009
by Fran Larson
http://www.franniesquotes.com/
This is the most horrible day of my life! What else can happen? Jennifer Hanson was talking to herself. She flung herself on the beige leather couch and let herself sink into its softness. Her dark curling hair was cut short. Her CD quit working and she could not go out with her girlfriends tonight. How she hated her haircut! It made her feel so ugly and now she spilled coffee on her new Gap shirt. This whole year had been a disaster. Everyone seemed to be ignoring her as if she were invisible. If she could only get some more name brand clothes and maybe a decent haircut, maybe things would change. An unshed tear moistened her large green eyes.
It was an ordinary beige ranch house, trimmed in brown. Yellow allamandas curled over the white picket fence. Inside the fence was a brick walkway fringed on each side with red roses. Jennifer rang the doorbell. She could hear slow, heavy footsteps coming closer. A heavy- set, gray-haired woman opened the door. Her wrinkled face brightened at the sight of Jennifer. Under her white apron was a brilliant red dress that came just below her knees. "You must be Jennifer. Oh, child, you're so pretty. Come in. I baked us some cookies. I've got peanut butter and chocolate chip. Honey, I'm gonna make us some raspberry lemonade."
Jennifer nodded her head and spoke louder than usual, "I don't think this will take very long, but I am thirsty."
A few cookies later, Jennifer decided that this might not be too bad, after all. Some of her anger evaporated, as she yielded to the old lady's warmth. " Mrs. Delaney," Jennifer began. "Honey, just call me Aunt Dee." The old lady's wrinkled face was full of strength, shining with a steady and serene peace.
"O.K", Jennifer answered, as she pulled papers and a ballpoint pen from her straw purse. "Aunt "Dee, the first question is; what are some of the problems older people have?"
"Oh, Honey, we do have problems. Let me see if I can explain. You see, when you are this age, you feel invisible. You realize some people don't even think you belong on the planet anymore. It's as if they think your time should be up. Even on television, there is nothing shown for our age. We don't want to get older. It just happens. We are aware that we are referred to as geezers, crips, decrepits and my all-time unfavorite title is senior citizen. It sounds like we are an alien from another planet. Mind you, I'm not complaining. I am just trying to answer your question."
Jennifer took a deep breath and hoped she would be more attractive than Aunt Dee when she was old. " I have so much to be thankful for," continued Aunt Dee. "My granddaughter loves me just the way I am, wrinkles and all." Jennifer nervously crossed her legs. It was as if Aunt Dee had read her mind.
The old lady slowly stood and walked over to a child's table and two little chairs. She took a dark brown teddy bear and slowly sank down next to Jennifer. "Honey, see this teddy bear? It was my daughter's and now my granddaughter, Elizabeth plays with it. The teddy bear is bald in patches and one eye fell out. It is so faded and old. The stuffing is coming out. That doesn't matter to Lizzie. She loves this teddy bear, no matter how old or ugly he gets. One day she left it at an outlet mall about forty miles away. The next day my daughter and I went to get it. Sure enough a nice saleslady in Burdines had saved it for us. The sales lady had a four year old, so she totally understood. When a child loves a teddy bear for a long, long time, it becomes almost real to her. It comforts her and brings her happiness. I'm like that teddy bear," said Aunt Dee.
Aunt Dee took a deep breath and sat on the edge of a brown tweed rocking chair and continued. "I tell Lizzie that I feel like that teddy bear. I've got arthritis and my joints are stiff. I am going blind in one eye and my skin is all wrinkled and ugly."
Aunt Dee's eyes had a twinkle in them and she chuckled softly. "My Lizzy doesn't like for me to say I am ugly."
She'll say "Grandma you're not ugly. You are beautiful. I like your wrinkled skin. You're the best wrinkled-eye grandmother I ever knew!"
Jennifer let these words sink in for a moment before she spoke. She remembered all the times she had made fun of older people. She swallowed hard and managed a feeble "thank you."
The second question is "How can older people improve their quality of life and find fulfillment'?" "Oh, Honey, I'm so glad you asked that question." Her voice sparkled with excitement. Jennifer noticed that she liked to use the word," honey" and let it roll from her lips slowly. My William died. I decided I had to do something.I couldn't just sit here and have a pity party every day. So, that's when I started volunteering for Meals on Wheels. I began to see that there are so many people that can't even go to the grocery store. Seeing the looks on their faces when the warm food was placed in front of them, made me feel so good inside. Then, I found the senior center. It's the best one in the state of Florida. We have chorus every week. A professional conductor teaches it. We have a play once a year. There is a retired actor in the community who is teaching us all about acting. Imagine that? We're actors. We have painting classes taught by a local artist. That's what I like to do. Would you believe when I was in school, I could not even draw stick figures? Now, I have completed three paintings. Honey, if you come over again when you don't have homework, I'll show them to you." Jennifer nodded her head and felt her mouth curve into a wide smile. " You see, Honey, people need a reason to live. They need something to get up for in the morning. Everyone needs a passion. I feel so good since I started painting, that I threw away some of my pills. Don't need em anymore. I said to myself one day,' Delores, you should teach people to sew.' Some people never had a chance to learn to sew, what with raising children and all. So, I teach sewing. Why, my best student is Peter Finch. He's in his eighties and made this apron for me. Honey, if you want to learn to sew, I can teach you. Those clothes in the store are so expensive and everyone looks the same. You could be completely different and start a fashion trend.'"
To her amazement, Jennifer was excited about that possibility. "Do you really mean it? I would love to learn to sew. You see, sometimes I feel invisible, too. I think if I could wear clothing that was completely different, I could maybe establish my own uh identity. Maybe then, I wouldn't be invisible."
"Honey, see, we are different ages, but really have some of the same problems." She let a chuckle escape from her wrinkled mouth.
My last question is " why are some older people uh-unhappy?" Aunt Dee had a mischievous smile on her face. " Honey, you mean grouchy? Well, it's like this. When we get this age, we are frightened. Our life is changing so fast. Our body is slowing down. Some people are grouchy and unhappy because inside, they are afraid. They are afraid they won't have enough money for their prescriptions or food. They are losing their hearing or eyesight. Their memory is failing. They are also losing friends who have passed on. This is a lot of losses. They are really afraid and that is how they react. They act tough, but on the inside they need friends and family so much."
Jennifer couldn't believe that two hours had passed so quickly. She felt close to Aunt Dee. They both felt invisible sometimes. Aunt Dee no longer seemed like an old lady but truly like a loving Aunt or second mother. She yielded to her feelings and gave Aunt Dee a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Now, Honey, you come over and we'll sew. I'll bake some cookies." "No," Jennifer answered. "Next time I' ll bake the cookies for us. I'll bake Oatmeal cookies and bring strawberry lemonade."
Jennifer learned to sew. She had the coolest clothes ever. Sure enough, all the girls started to notice her clothes and wished they could sew. She even began to design her own clothes. She had a style and flair that was trendy and absolutely stunning.
Seven years passed. Jennifer graduated from college with a degree in fashion design. She had her own business. Aunt Dee had taught her everything about sewing. In fact, Aunt Dee had taught her everything about life. Her precious Aunt Dee passed away two years ago. Jennifer was so glad that she had entered Aunt Dee's paintings in some local art shows and they had won first prize for originality. Jennifer still could see her wrinkled face as she chuckled. "Honey, I said to myself,' Delores, you are sure lucky to have Jennifer for a friend.'"
Jennifer gazed at the bald, worn out teddy bear that Aunt Dee had left her. Lizzy, Aunt Dee's granddaugher, wanted her to have it. Lizzy and Jennifer had grown close. The teddy bear had lost even more hair and now was coming apart in both seams. Jennifer smiled as she felt the nearness of Aunt Dee.
Jennifer could still see Aunt Dee's wrinkled face as she repeated what her precious little Lizzy said, "Grandma, you're not ugly. You are beautiful. I like your wrinkled skin. You're the best wrinkled-eye grandmother I ever knew!"
CHILD RESPONSE
Jennifer learned to sew from Aunt Dee but she also learned a lot more. What did Aunt Dee teach Jennifer about life?
Write a letter to an elderly person (a grandparent, friend of the family, or neighbor) and tell that person why they are important.
This Article has been viewed 302 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Incredible piece! I have never read any fiction written by you - this teaches so and I wish I could give it a SIX! Marijo
A VERY nice piece of fiction, indeed! Hopefully it will touch lots of lives.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.