Things I’ve Learned From Life – Nana Carter

Hil’s Mum and Dad with Big Smiles
While I was back in Liverpool, I sat down to have a conversation with Hil’s mom.  Nana Carter recently turned 80 years old and I wanted to ask her what she’d learned in four score years.  Here was her reply:
1) There is a time to speak and a time to be quiet.  You don’t always have to say the first thing that comes to your lips.  You don’t always have to get wisdom from experience;  although that’s usually where the most wisdom comes from.  Sometimes you can get wisdom from others;  but usually you have to be quiet and listen to them first.
2) One of the best gifts in life is contentment.  If you can recognize that what you have is what you need, you don’t have to want for other things just to have them.  Count your blessings and be happy with what you have.
3) Be truthful to others and to yourself.  Follow the Ten Commandments and you won’t go wrong.
[The photo I’ve included is a section of another, larger photo which isn’t actually focused on Hil’s Mum and Dad (hence it’s a bit fuzzy), but it is one of very few “non-posed for” photos I’ve ever seen which shows a natural joy, friendship and physical closeness of an older couple who are very much in love.  Because Hil’s parents were both raised with a great deal of “British reserve”, this remains one of my favorite photos of them.    —    kmab]
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