Isn’t there just a common bit of knowledge out there that tells us to respect and listen to our elders, because they have wisdom to share with us? I think there is. Well, there is now, anyway, because I was given the perfect gift of wisdom for entering the New Year two nights ago from one of my coffee clients at Starbucks. She is 74-years-old. I should say 74-years-young, as she is the most spunky, well dressed and hip person in her 70s that I know. She’s the only person in her 70s I know!

She has been coming around for more than a year now. She orders a tall Americano on most Tuesday nights after her women’s bible group meeting. But, when she’s feeling a little extra flair on a particular night, she will order a tall Caramel Macchiato. 

When I saw her on Friday (yes, I know, not Tuesday…) it was a little later in the evening. She came beaming up to me at the bar as I made drinks. She hadn’t even ordered her own yet before she began telling me how she spent the entire day moving and boy was she pooped! Not only that, but when she was ready to leave earlier that evening to attend another meeting, she found someone had parked behind her in the parking lot, leaving her stuck. She proceeded to tell me that she knocked on every apartment door on all three floors of her building before finding the owner of the car who was blocking her in.

“It was a young couple,” she began telling me with big eyes and her lips sort of pursed up on the side. “And the lights were out…she girl seemed very surprised as the young man answered the door!”

Then, she threw her hands up in the air and began giggling. “Hehehe! I can only imagine what they were up to! But at least he agreed to move his car!”

See? She’s delightful! She and I have spoken about so many things! After I colored my hair once, she immediately shared with me (without batting an eye) how she prefers my hair dark brown because it matches my eyes better, oh and the shorter the better…!

She told me once about a man with whom she met on Match.com who lived in Houston and she was about to go meet him for the first time (this was right after she returned from Israel with a women’s church group!). About the man, she said, “I sure hope his teeth are as nice in person as they are in his photo! *giggle*”

She tells me about how she doesn’t appreciate people (friends and/or family) sending her negative text messages; how she was shocked when her best friend dressed like a “floozy” on a double first date they attended together recently; and how she wants to spend her time with a man who likes to have a lot of fun and who can keep up with her!

Now that you know her a little better, let me share with you the gem of wisdom that she floored me with on Friday, December 30, when I asked her how she would be ringing in the New Year.

She looked me square in the eyes after pulling her keys out of her bag and said, “Praying.” She explained that each year on New Year’s Eve she prays to God that He would give her a word to take with her through the next year. She said she believed He had already given her the word.

Eagerly, I asked her what it was and then she spoke the word, “beautiful,” to me. Beautiful. Maybe just say it yourself a minute.

She feels so strongly that this word is not one that is used enough anymore. And she said the word, “anymore,” as if it were used more frequently during a time that has been long forgotten. Maybe she’s right. She vowed to slow down and look at lovely things more often and take the time to declare them as beautiful. Beauty in nature. Beauty in relationships. Beauty in each other and within ourselves.

I was so moved. I told her I was certain that God had sent her in on that Friday night to share that word with me, too, perhaps. She kind of laughed a little and did a little motion with her hand. Then she asked, “What is today? When is New Year’s anyway?”

“Tomorrow!” I kind of said with some height in my voice but accompanied by a huge grin. “New Year’s Eve is tomorrow! Happy New Year’s!”

“Huh! That sure came up fast didn’t it?” She declared and turned to leave, her coffee in one hand and her other flitting around her head a little, as if it were a fancy wave. She didn’t turn back. She never does, actually. But until next time, she left me with the best gift to take into this year and I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

Happy New Year!

Be beautiful! Feel beautiful! See what is beautiful! Experience what is beautiful!