If you are a reader of this blog, I am sure you are aware by now that I am quite fond of my volunteering role and consider the residents that I spend time with, as some pretty cool friends.
These are the ladies and gentlemen who were schoolteachers and seamstress’ to military personnel, each one of my friends has lived a pretty incredible life.
And as my motto goes, “lives well lived are stories worth hearing” … and learning from.
Here are 5 invaluable lessons I have been endowed with:
- “Step outside your comfort zone, there is no point getting to my age and wishing there was something that you had done, just do it.” – Shirley Grey, Brain Injury Unit nurse, traveller, wife and mother
- “Always be looking to learn something new, no matter what age, it’s how we keep on keeping on.” – Mary Walters, age 95, dressmaker, painter, carer, mother and much more.
- “Do as much as you can and travel as much as you can, because it just broadens your horizons.” – Margaret Smith, age 95, passionate traveller, wife, mother, quantity surveyor and in a long-term relationship with books.
- “Get an education, in my day education wasn’t valued for women, and it is just so important to take advantage of what you can do now.” – Ness Leal, age 95, Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force, wife/War Widow, mother, ballroom dancer, “Old Nan”.
- “You don’t need much in life, other than the ability to give to others.” – Brian Richards, age 88, pharmacist, a life’s worth of work committed to a Christian Mission, father and loving husband.
