Our Parents Get Smarter the Older We Get

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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 think back and 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 they saw the health nuttiness side of Daddy as quite eccentric.

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. I am sure that one of the reasons he had me prepare them was so he could see me fume. Garlic became one of Daddy’s many fun trademarks. If you want a smile out of one of my cousins, just say Charles Leland and garlic.

Guess what is recommended today for high blood pressure. That’s right — garlic. Daddy also drank honey and vinegar tea, and he gulped down kraut juice.

I am my daddy’s daughter. Ray and I have local honey in our cabinet, apple cider vinegar and raw fermented kraut in our refrigerator, and garlic in the little basket by the stove. Before I go to bed, I drink a tablespoon of vinegar in water. When I feel a cold coming on, I take a spoonful of honey; and, if I am really serious about beating it, I chop some garlic. I don’t take it straight like Daddy. I’m a wimp. I chop it fine, mix it with applesauce, and then swallow the mixture like medicine!

Yesterday I fixed a lunch of chili, hot dogs, and Bubbies kraut. It was almost time for a new jar of Bubbies, so I poured the remainder of the old jar through a strainer to collect the last bits of expensive kraut, using another jar to collect the juice.

“Should I pour it down the drain or drink this expensive, leftover kraut juice?” I wondered. Knowing those probiotics were probably really good for me, I took a swig and put the rest in the refrigerator. It really wasn’t bad. Too bad my brother Steve and my cousins weren’t there to laugh at me.

I have to confess to my shame that I didn’t start these regimens to follow Daddy’s example. I started them because I read about them myself or because someone I trust told me about them. But they do make me think of Daddy and smile. They make me love and respect him even more. It’s amazing how much smarter he gets in my memory the older I get.

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

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