The Gracious and Dignified Maurine Jones

The following story, written by Cheri Pape, appeared in the Park Cities People, a weekly publication in Dallas, Texas. Maurine's time on earth has ended, yet her wisdom lives on...

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud mother-in-law of my best friend, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.

Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. Maurine Jones is the most lovely, gracious, dignified woman that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. While I have never aspired to attain her depth of wisdom, I do pray that I will learn from her vast experience.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.

"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy."Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ... just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.
Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ...
IT'S HOW I ARRANGE MY MIND. I already decided to love it.

"It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up.
I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the
difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work,
or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

"Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day
and all the happy memories I've stored away, just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account ...
you withdraw from what you've put in.
So, my advice to you would be to deposit
a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories."

When is “too old”?

At what age do we give up? At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting, and even Titian painted “Battle of Lepants” when he was 98.

At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote Far­fetched Fables.

At 91, Eamon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

At 90, Pablo Picasso still drew and engraved.

At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall, and Pablo Casals, at 88, still performed cello concerts.

At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, A History of the Eng­lish-Speaking Peoples, Leo Tolstoy completed I Can­not Be Silent, and Goethe, at the same age, finished Faust.

At 81, Benjamin Franklin produced the diplomacy which led to the adoption of the US Constitution.

When are you “too old”?
Only on the day when you truly have nothing left to give.

The good news is:
that day only arrives when YOU choose.