"A Tribute to The Elderly"

I have been spending the past two to three weeks of my days off with my mom and her brother, my uncle "Ducky" as we call him and we have been redecorating his home. He lives alone and his home needed some sprucing up. So I did what I love to do....decorate!!! He has a wonderful collection of so many things that we were able to decorate with all of his collected items and we just added fresh paint and new draperies. He now has an updated looking bachelor pad. I enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with the "Ducks" especially when he would make us our afternoon tea when we were taking a break.

Old people facinate me! They are so full of knowledge and they have experienced so much more than we have. Have you ever wondered where they have been in their lives. What hardships they have had to deal with. What they looked like when they were younger? Were they rebels? Did they do well in school? How many children did they have? Did they marry?

My uncle is in his 70's and up until three years ago he was a very vibrant man who loved to dance. He was able to dance for hours at a time at weddings and he would put all of us young ones to shame. He has an obsession for collecting things that are very interesting. He also has many pictures with the beautiful Marilyn Monroe. Yes, he is full of many stories of when he was younger and when he would go to the studios to see her. I think when she is ressurected Uncle Ducky will probably marry her (Ducky has been a bachelor all of his life). Ducky has a zeal for life and we often could find him at the local shopping center offering the Watchtower and Awake to passersby. Yes, three years ago he suffered a stroke at my sons wedding and although he has recovered greatly, it has taken that sparkle out of his eye. There is definately a different person that looks back at me now and even though he has slowed down extremely he is still very zealous in his ministry and you can still see him walking over the freeway over pass in Sun City, California to share his hope to others at the local shopping center that may need encouragement.

Let us never forget our older family and friends. They are so precious to us and we don't know how long we will have them with us so lets all try to do our part to let them know that they haven't been forgotten and that we love them.

This piece is dedicated to my "Uncle Duck" whom I love very much.....