Weekend at the Beach—March 14-15

The older I get, the more I value the friendship of women. The Ladies Retreat was refreshing and I had a wonderful time getting to know some amazing women. However I will never see most of these women again. Here in my little neighborhood I am having an opportunity to get to know in depth some remarkable women. Age has a great deal to do with it. Women over 50 and over 60 have experienced a good deal of life. Our legs may not be the whistle bait they used to be, or our skin as smooth as a fresh peach, but hearts that have suffered and have been broken are compassionate hearts. Over the weekend of March 14 and 15 I went to the beach with 5 ladies from my neighborhood—all of us are well over 55. A few won’t say how old they are. Three of us are widows, and three are separated or divorced. The house where we stayed had a swimming pool, and we all put on our swimsuits and enjoyed the water. Try not to visualize six old ladies in swimsuits. It really is not a pretty sight. Everyone brought food to share and we had a great time preparing our meals together. Guatemalans prefer their music loud and they love to dance. I think there is something in their blood that they move so gracefully to the music. What I love about these women is their pure joy in living, how easily they break into laughter and their remarkable optimism. Life has not been easy for these ladies. Lupe, a widow has two severely retarded adult daughters. I have never heard her complain. She praises God for everything. Rita’s father was politically active and was assassinated. Her 25-year old sister was in the car with her father. She was shot in the head, never recovered mentally and died two years later. Her oldest son died in a car accident at the age of 33. Rita has the most amazing sense of humor and she keeps us laughing. I just wish I understood enough Spanish to get most of her jokes. Andrea’s husband began to abuse her when he took a mistress. She said she could have tolerated the mistress, but she did not want her three children to see her being mistreated, so she divorced him. She is a successful business woman with an amazing amount of energy. Her enthusiasm to get out and do things keeps the rest of us from sitting being passive. These ladies do not dwell on the things they have suffered, instead they find pleasure in simple things: a gloriously bright full moon, the thrill of a songbird, the sun setting over the beach, eating mangos right off the tree. I hope I will have an opportunity share the Gospel with them, but in the meantime I am learning a great deal about life from them.
(I changed the names of these women to protect their privacy.)