Our Parents Get Smarter the Older We Get
Of course, there are exceptions, but I think for most of us the statement is true: our parents get smarter the older we get. It’s true for two reasons:
- The older our parents get the more experiences they have behind them, and wisdom is the result for those who pay attention.
- The older we get the more we realize that we should listen to them.
Our parents don’t even have to be alive on earth to continue teaching us. If they did their job well, we can remember what they taught and how they lived.
My daddy was a “health nut” before health nuts were cool. While other daddies were reading Sports Illustrated, Daddy was reading Prevention magazine. The people of Ashland City thought the world of Daddy. Our cousins and teenage friends who spent a lot of time at our house did, too, but these young people saw the health nuttiness side of Daddy as quite eccentric. Just for fun, here are a Farmer cousin photo of the four oldest of us . . .
. . . and a Boyd cousin photo with the first three of us, along with our Aunt Emily at left.
Night after night, Daddy would look at me sometime during the evening and hold up two fingers. That meant, “Go fix me two raw cloves of garlic.” I would bring them back and he would pop them in his mouth — whole, trusting that it would help to regulate his blood pressure. Daddy was both serious and light-hearted about his garlic. It became one of his many fun trademarks. If you want a smile out of one of my cousins, just say Charles Leland and garlic.
Daddy also drank honey and vinegar tea, and he gulped down kraut juice.
I am my daddy’s daughter. I am not giving you medical advice, but when I feel a cold coming on, I down a spoonful of honey. If I am really serious about beating it, I chop a clove of garlic. I used to mix it with applesauce to hide the taste. Now I swallow the pieces like pills.
It’s amazing how much smarter Daddy became in my memory the older I got.
Daddy and me
My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
Proverbs 6:20-22