Growing old gracefully

This morning I visited my oldest aunty, Zaharah, my father's sister, who is today 91 years old. We call her Long. She suffers a weak heart because she has had hi cholesterol for many years and has been on medication for a very long time. A few ago she underwent angioplasty  but the smaller blood vesels, which were blocked could not be attended to. Over the years this has weakened her. The doctor prescribed for her Plavite, a blood thinning medication.

Besides that problem, she is ok. She still walks upright, her eyesight is ok, she can still read the Al Quran and watch the television. She still has appetite to eat. She wears nice clothes. And she enjoys talking about the daily political news. She is very alert as a social critique. 

She enjoys the religious knowledge from the Al Quran and Hadis2. She told me again this morning that she is fearful of death knowing that at her age it would come at any time. I reminded her that death comes at any time to just any of us, as only God knows when our time is up. I asked her why she is afraid of death. She said that it is because she is so afraid that God may not have forgiven her sins. I told her that honestly, everybody is afraid to die. So she is not alone in having that fear. But, maybe its good  for her to be hopeful and optimistic that God will forgive her her sins as long as she continues asking God for forgiveness.

It is so easy to feel  down at heart, and to complain of whatever shortcomings in one's life, especially if one lives alone with just a maid, in a big house but one cannot go upstairs because one can no longer climb the stairs. But then again, I reminded her that at least she is in her own house and having a maid! There are thousands out there who have to live with somebody or at an old folks' home with no one to take care of you.

So I gently ask her to count her blessings everyday, no matter how small the blessings are. She can still walk, pray standing, go to the toilets by herself, bathe herself, put on clothes by herself, can still have sound sleep at night, could still manage to wake up in the early hours of the morning to pray, enjoys eating, reading the Al Quran, watching the news on the television, enjoys her afternoon naps and  watching the beautiful flowers in her garden. Its quite a lot of blessings!