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<\/a>All Roads Lead to Home . Opening doors since 1999 . In-Home Care At Home With Hearthside Home Care<\/p><\/div>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s because many of them lived through the Great Depression and learned early in life that everything took a lot of hard work. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s all of it, but even studies have shown that the oldest generations are also the happiest. So, what is their secret? As a journalist, I\u2019ve had the privilege to interview hundreds of seniors. I\u2019m always amazed by their stories. Many grew up on farms where hard work was just a part of life. They left their homes to venture out in the world and many served their countries, traveling to faraway places. Their triumphs and heart breaks have been many, but almost without exception, they tell me they are so very thankful for their lives and for what they have. Unlike younger generations, they went into adulthood knowing that life would take work. They didn\u2019t expect a handout but took pride in working towards their goals. Now, in their \u201cgolden years\u201d they are experiencing illnesses and the loss of loved ones. Yet, even those have told me, \u201cI\u2019ve have a wonderful life and I\u2019m so grateful for everything I have.\u201d\u00a0 The power of gratitude is enormous. On this day, I hope we all consider our elders and their attitudes towards life. We are not promised tomorrow. We are not promised a life without heartaches. Today is all we really have. How we live it is up to us. My own parents have suffered serious health issues over the past few years. They are so grateful that they have recovered from both cancer and a paralyzing syndrome called Guilliane Barre. My father has been blessed to be cancer-free for the last 10 years. He lost his bladder, but not his life. While he was still in the hospital and fighting to survive, he told me that he was not afraid of dying. \u201cI don\u2019t want to die, but if I do, I\u2019m still thankful for everything that God has given me. I have a wonderful family and lived a great life. I could not ask for more.\u201d My\u00a0older cousins and siblings\u00a0enjoy the small wonders of life. They love working in their yard and seeing their grandchildren and especially their great-grandchildren. They can still work circles around me. They take a lot of satisfaction in their everyday accomplishments. My mother recently told me that she knew daddy would probably have some hard issues to deal with in the near future. She said, \u201cIt won\u2019t be easy, but I\u2019m so grateful that we\u2019ve had this past 10 years together. Think of all that he would have missed! We are very blessed.\u201d I try my best to be my parent\u2019s daughter and be thankful for all that I have. When my children were growing up and started whining about something, I\u2019d say, \u201cAttitude is everything.\u201d Well, gratitude is an attitude. We can choose to be happy and grateful, or not. What generation of the past could boast of our lifestyles? Not a one. Yet we have more depression and more desperation in our generation than any other. As in-home caregivers during this great recession, don\u2019t we all have a lot to learn from the generations of the past? My prayer today is to learn how to live the gift of gratitude everyday of the year and that my children and grandchildren will come to understand that material things cannot make you happy. Family, friends and the love they share with us are the greatest gifts of all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Terri Dimaria, a writer who resides in Greensboro North Carolina Perhaps it\u2019s because many of them lived through the Great Depression and learned early in life that everything took a lot of hard work. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s all of it, but even studies have shown that the oldest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[320,801,151,103,143,802],"class_list":["post-2941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1blog","tag-at-home","tag-at-home-peace","tag-generations","tag-gratitude","tag-in-home-care","tag-terri-dimaria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-guilford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}