Slice of Life: If You Give a Book Lover a Topic . . .

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

If you give a book lover a topic to teach, chances are she'll find a way to make a book connection. This past week I was asked by a friend to teach a class at church that she normally teaches (she's recovering from a broken ankle).  Topic of the lesson:  The Elderly in the Church.  I don't know about you, but I was not excited about this lesson topic.  Even though it was filled with great advice for "the elderly" and guidance for the church community on meeting the needs of the elderly, I was less than enthusiastic.  

There's something about the word "elderly" that conjures less than positive connotations.  I asked my husband to help me brainstorm other words or phrases to describe this stage of life.  His responses reveal his dry wit and humor:  seasoned, filled with wisdom, mature, on the last legs, broken in, circling the drain, old silverbacks, pensioners, and walking on the edge of the ice floe.   

Finally, on Sunday morning, I woke up knowing how to approach my topic.  When my husband came downstairs, I was sitting on the floor surrounded by children's books.  I had pulled every book that featured "the seasoned" (isn't that a better phrase than the elderly?) as part of a table display for my lesson.  

Just walking into the classroom and seeing all these stories of life with seasoned family members put a smile on everyone's face.  I concluded the lesson by sharing Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.