Beautiful old people.....

Buenos dias mi vida, mi corazon, mi gordita sabrosa....
Today's quote is one of my all time favorites ....it's funny I have memorized so many of my quotes...I like to hand them out as much and as often as possible. It comes from Eleanor Roosevelt

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."

My beautiful, gorgeous, delicious, soft, incredible, strong, inspiring, hard working, unforgettable old people Mama Zaida, and My Papa Marcos...DuuuuDuuuuuDUUUUUUKEEEEEEEE

When you are young you have the youthful beauty, so innocent and pure, so nice to look at but you have yet to experience anything that would allow you to have fully developed into a nice juicy, ripe fruit ready for the picking! You are but the bud of a flower that takes a lifetime to truly bloom. And then life happens and you see yourself through some formidable nightmares and just enough exuberant delights that help you feel you have the strength to continue on to see another day. And every day chisels away at that youthful exterior, that delicious taut countenance that women and men pay good money in attempts to recreate and possess once again, gravity takes over, your skin loses it's gentle glow, you don't move as gracefully and you think you're not much to look at. But when all of that happens, inside that seed has bloomed in such a majestic manner that none of those things are so much as even noticed for a second by the trained eye that is. Old people Athena, they are the most beautiful thing there is. That is why we must appreciate them, love them, befriend them, hear them, heed their advice, absorb their wisdom, touch them for there is no age limit on needing human contact, and involve them in our lives. But most of all Athena, we must protect them. They are the gate keepers for so many things that are sacred but for me specifically they are where we come from and where we will go so we must see to it that value them as they should be. I am going to teach you to be kind to old people, to never have to be asked for your help because you are already so willing and ready to give it, to respect old people, learn from them, and see them as your friends and as teaching angels. I remember not just volunteering at Retirement communities but also singing at them and the joy exuded from every single old person's pores, you could smell the gratitude (amongst other things ;-), their eyes twinkled with the dew of that ripe, juicy fruit whose flower was releasing all of it's magic.
And then not too long ago, I was fortunate, honored, privileged enough to get a few cooking lessons from my own grandmother, and I saw a true come to life right before my very eyes work of art. Her hands, her fingers moved with the intensity of a bulldozer, mixing ingredients like she wasn't at all aware she was indeed a tiny, Puerto Rican midget. And as rough as those hands moved, they still felt like your baby butt! But then again, since I know the times those hands have seen and felt, and all the fingerlickin, bowl, spoon, pan licking good food they have blessed my lips and stomach with I have always thought her hands to be gorgeous. So seasoned at her craft she had no need for measurements or recipes pssshhhh come on now....and a story she had for absolutely every single step. I stood there watching this woman, knowing that from her tiny little frame had come five beautiful children, from her tiny little hands she fed them and cared for them, knowing she'd lost her other half and still stood here so resilient, so strong, so alive and I was so amazed at how incredibly gorgeous she seemed to me. It was like the wall opened up behind her and there was fog and bright white lights and the sound of ethereal ooooo's and ahhhhhh's come bursting though.....and that is what you should feel and see with all old people Athena....
They are magnificent .....and all of them, they are yours, so be gentle and kind with them and the rewards to your life and soul will be endless. But most of all remember to always stand up for them, fight for them and protect them as though they were your very own works of art. I love you and goodnite!!!