What’s Important at Age 83
Wisdom from My Mom
The other day I was having lunch with my mom and she asked me if I saw my friend “Mary” anymore.
No, I told her, explaining that Mary had a very successful career and was too busy to spend time with most of her friends.
I went on and on about all of Mary’s accomplishments, a bit wistful that I am not as accomplished as her professionally.
At the end of my lengthy monologue, I thought my mom would be really impressed by Mary’s achievements.
But, my mom surprised me.
“Is Mary happy?” my mom asked.
Happy? I didn’t see that one coming.
“No,” I told my mom, “She’s totally stressed out.”
“Oh, it’s not worth it,” my mom replied. “The most important things are family and health.”
I appreciated hearing that hard-won wisdom from my 83-year old mom, who was diagnosed with cancer Nov. 2022.
My mom went through two bone biopsies, a full body PET scan, dozens of blood draws, daily oral and monthly injected immunotherapy, drug side effects, and… is miraculously in remission (!)
When you’ve faced the unspeakable like she has, losing her parents, husband, two siblings and many, many friends, it distills what’s important in life.
Family, health and — I’m sure she’d say — God.
What do you think is important?
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This post is sponsored BrightStory, a boutique college admissions consulting company owned by Stanford graduate, professional journalist and “coach of admission coaches” Alice Chen, who also created Happy Asian Woman.
Read more…
What I Learned From My 88-year old Dad
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Perspective, perspective. You always bring it, Alice!
Thank you! I’m so grateful my mom’s in remission too - it’s a huge blessing.
It is easy to get caught in the day-to-day and forget what’s important... I need to keep reminding myself not to get distracted. 😅 how do you remind yourself?
(And change my name? Where did you see that? 😅)