What were your parents doing at your age? So ask the daily writing prompt.

That one required a little thought and addition. My father never made it close to my age. Passed decades before it. After being in the Navy during WWII and Korea and expeditions on Operation Deep Freeze, I won’t forget the sacrifices he made that provided me and others our freedom.

My Mom, still a widow was doing some part-time work at card stores, traveling, and doing volunteer work for the Red Cross at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Then again she might have been fighting one of the many medical challenges she had in her senior years. But that didn’t stop her from helping others and when she wasn’t under the weather, she was out busy doing something.

Now what was Mom really doing? She was busy being loving, generous, and kind to people. She would help people, donate to charities, and always look for the good in people. She had a great smile. She was warm. She believed someone always had it worse off even when she was suffering. Not that she didn’t notice every ache and pain, but she also acknowledged many had them and worse. She spent great effort and time loving her family and friends.

As time has passed, those examples aren’t front and center as they once were. Sometimes when our parents come up in memories our kids might say something like the above, and I’ll smile. I also know as time passes their recollections fade even faster because they are shorter.

So I’m going to try to remember those many good qualities my parents had and the ones my mother and father-in-law also had and keep them going so our children take the positive and good ones and pass them to their children.